


Parted [#2]

by mieczyslxw



Series: The Death Seer Saga [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Drama, Avengers Feels, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Coming of Age, Father Figures, Friendship, Multi, Original Character(s), POV Original Character, POV Original Female Character, POV Peter Parker, POV Third Person, POV Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Personal Growth, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Friendship, Team Bonding, Team as Family, Tony Stark Has A Heart, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:20:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 36,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23525248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mieczyslxw/pseuds/mieczyslxw
Summary: Andi Katsifaras is slowly beginning to adjust to life as a teenager, as well as life as a trainee avenger. But right before things can become official for her, in terms of her status as an Avenger, things take a drastic turn.Now, the Government feels like they need better control over the Avengers, because every time they set out to save the world, they tend to leave a lot of destruction behind. People get hurt. And with this new law, the Avengers would only set out to help when they're called upon instead of when they feel the need to.And apart from that, the arrival of someone who is believed to be a fugitive sets everyone on edge, and before they know it, people are picking sides. Their two leaders have opposing views it's slowly driving both Tony and Steve apart.Andi stands by Tony, but slowly, she begins to wonder if it is because she believes he's right, or because of her loyalty to him. And with all this going on, she's also trying to navigate how to keep her powers hidden, how to finish her homework on time, and how to deal with her first ever crush.Last year was hard for Andi, but this year isn't going so swell either.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Original Female Character(s), Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Avengers Team, Steve Rogers & Original Female Character(s), Tony Stark & Avengers Team, Tony Stark & Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Death Seer Saga [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1389067
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. prologue

_THUD. THUD. THUD._

The sound of a hammer hitting a wall was all that could be heard, amid the faint sound of running water. Eventually, the wall gave in and broke open, leaving a large hole in its wake. The hammer clammers to the ground and a dark haired man reaches into the hole to pick out a cardboard box. On the side of the box is a symbol of an octopus-like creature with a skull for a head and six tentacle curled in. The label on the box reads _H.Y.D.R.A_.

The man empties the contents of the box onto a rusty table. There are documents, and papers, but one thing stands out: a red leather book with a black star on it. It’s dusty and chipping, but in otherwise good condition. 

Picking it up, the dark haired man stashes it into his pocket, before rifling through the files in front of him. The first one, upon opening, shows the picture of a man in uniform. “You’ve kept your looks colonel,” he remarks, briefly looking up from the file to look at the man across the room. He’s tied upside down to a pole, his head dipped into an empty basin that is slowly filling with water. “Mission report. December 16, 1991.” 

“Who are you?” The bound man asks in a thick accent. It sounds Russian. 

“My name is Zemo,” the dark haired man explains. “I will repeat my question. Mission report. December 16, 1991.”

The man fails to answer yet again. Instead, he poses another question. “How did you find me?” 

Zemo sighs, setting down the file and walking over to the man slowly. “When S.H.I.E.L.D fell, Black Widow released H.Y.D.R.A files to the public. Millions of files, much of it encrypted and not easy to decipher. But I have experience. And patience. A man can do anything if he has those.” 

The man continues to question him. “What do you want?” 

It’s clear that by now, Zemo’s temper is slowly rising. “Mission report. December 16, 1991.” 

“Go… to… hell.” 

Zemo shakes his head slowly, in disappointment, before crouching down to be eye level with the man. He turns the water off the tap before speaking. “H.Y.D.R.A deserves its place on the ash heap, so your death would not bother me. But I’d have to use this book,” he lifts the red book from his pocket. “and other bloodier methods to find what I need. I don’t look forward to that. You’d only be dying for your pride.”

The man remains silent. 

Zemo nods. And after a few moments, he reaches out to turn the tap on again, the water gushing out with more intensity than before. 

The water continues to rise, and Zemo watches as it nearly covers his entire face. Just before it can cover the man’s lips, he utters two words. 

_“Hail Hydra.”_


	2. the first mission

Andi tapped her pencil against the notebook open in front of her. She had scribbled down some notes that were on the blackboard relating to covalent bonds but she was most uninterested at the moment. She was restless, and occasionally glancing to the clock on the wall, waiting for the period to end. There was still one more before class was officially done for the day, but Andi was too anxious because today was going to be her first big mission. 

This was similar to her behaviour when she first started school. She would always wait for the day to end so she could get back to the base for her ‘Avengers training’. Eventually that became routine as Andi adjusted, so there was no ‘newness’ to look forward to. Her initial excitement of school also faded with time when she realised that it was _incredibly_ hard. It could be due to the fact that she had never been in school to learn any of the basics. It could _also_ be due to the fact that Andi had a hard time concentrating in class. 

The only ones she really excelled at were art and robotics, the latter being an elective because Andi did surprisingly well around metal — _such_ a shocker. 

Almost a whole year had passed, and life seemed to go on. And as tough as it was to complete homework, participate in projects, and juggle being an Avenger trainee, Andi loved it. She loved leading this life with actual friends and and people she considered family. She was learning so many new things, both in school and out. 

And Andi was also pretty sure, that for the first time in her life, she had an actual crush. 

It was weird at first, because she couldn’t understand her feelings. From the day they first met, Peter Parker had been extremely nice to her. Considering he was also the first person she spoke to since joining school, she sought him out in the hallways and in the cafeteria during her first week, before, eventually, Andi found herself joining him and his best friend Ned at their table every day. She spoke to him in between classes, and whenever they had a shared class, she usually sat with him. 

Except in Chemistry because while they were in the class together, lab partners were usually pre-assigned and that meant that Andi was stuck next to Flash Thompson, someone she had quickly grown annoyed of. 

Even now, as she restlessly tapped her pencil against her book, something she knew to be an annoying tic, she grew irritated by the way Flash occasionally balled up pieces of paper when the teacher wasn’t looking, to toss it at Peter, who sat a row ahead. At least focusing her irritation on him was a good way to distract herself from the time. 

“Don’t you get tired of being a dick?” Andi asked, trying to let as much anger seep into her tone as she could, while speaking in a hushed voice so the teacher wouldn’t overhear. 

Flash stopped himself from tossing the next scrap of paper so he could glance over to Andi with a raised eyebrow. “You’re calling _me_ a dick?” He asked. “No, no, you have me confused with Penis Parker over there,” he smirked, nodding to Peter with a triumphant look on his face as though he expected her to praise him for coming up with that witty response. 

All it did was fill Andi with more hatred for the guy. Before she could say anything though, Flash was looking at her again. 

“Anyway, I’m having a party this weekend and you should totally come. I—“ Flash didn’t get to finish what he was saying though because all eyes turned to the door when a woman walked in. Andi recognised her as the lady who sat in the main office. She was the one to give Andi her class schedule and locker combo when she first joined school. 

And right now, she was looking right at Andi, till their Chemistry teacher, Mr. Cobbwell, spoke up. “Miss Costello,” he addressed her. “What can I do for you?” 

“Andi Owen’s uncle is at the office so I’m going to need to take her out of class for the day,” she explained. 

And just like that, everyone turned to look at Andi, including Peter, who gave her a skeptical look. She knew there would be questions about that later but all she could think of at the moment was the fact that someone had come to get her in between class, which _never_ happened. Andi automatically assumed that something was wrong, so she just shot Peter one final glance before picking up her things and heading outside. 

“Did my uncle say what he came for?” She asked Miss Costello as they walked toward the main office. She was careful not to specify the name of the uncle because, well, there were at least four potential candidates. Though most of them wouldn’t dare step into the school. They would be too easily recognised.

“He just said it was a family emergency,” the woman explained, making Andi tense up even more. 

Moments later, they walked in and Andi froze in the doorway to see a familiar head of light brown hair.The man was fair skinned and stood tall. Whereas she was used to seeing him with a topaz coloured stone in the middle of his forehead, right now there was nothing. He looked like any normal person. It was a good disguise, especially for making appearances at Andi’s school, so her own cover wouldn’t be blown. 

Andi forced herself to speak up, for the sake of appearances. “Uncle Vis,” she gave him a nervous smile. “What’s going on?” 

Vision smiled back but paused to thank Miss Costello before he ushered Andi out of the office and began to lead her out of the school. Now that nobody was around, she felt okay to ask a more specific question. “Is everyone okay?” 

“Everyone’s fine,” he assured her as they stepped out onto the street. The familiar blue minivan that was usually used to pick her up and drop her off at school was parked near the curb. “Something’s come up though and we have to leave for our mission a little earlier than expected.” 

Andi got into the passenger seat and looked to Vision. “So you actually came to get me before going?” Andi was relieved that nobody was hurt, like she had first suspected, and now she was beginning to get a little excited. 

Vision gave her a pointed look, and glanced briefly to the seatbelt as if to say that he wasn’t going to answer till she got buckled in. With a sigh, Andi did just that before looking at him again. “Captain Rogers promised that you could come along for this one,” he told her with a small smile. “He didn’t feel like breaking that promise.” Vision started up the car and looked at Andi once more before he began to drive. “And consider it an early birthday gift.” 

Andi’s birthday was in two days, still, but she certainly wasn’t complaining. She was just excited that she was going on her first official mission as an Avenger because until now, it had mainly been indoor training and small missions that had been orchestrated to test her till the rest of the team thought she was finally ready. 

“So where are we going?” She asked Vision, practically giddy with excitement. 

He drove down the road, taking a turn and heading in the direction of the Avengers base — or as she preferred to call it, home, and after a moment, he answered her question. “Lagos.” 


	3. just like we practised

Andi sat beside Wanda at a coffee table. The small cafe they were at was quaint, and out In the open, allowing them a good view of the streets nearby. It was the optimal place to keep an eye on the situation around them, in case things went south. And, of course, this was supposedly where they would find their target. Or some sign of him at least.

For a mission, Andi was dressed relatively normally. This was mainly to blend in. She had been using the suit that Tony made for her for training, but not today. Now, she was dressed in a simple t shirt and a pair of cotton shorts, to allow her to move around easily. She also sported a blue jacket that was not entirely an ordinary jacket. It looked normal from the outside, but the shoulder pads were lined with an empty space for her to store things. Well, small things.

In Andi's case, it held seeds, for the purpose of demonstrating something she had been working on for a while now. And, of course, the jacket had been a gift from Tony so the whole seed idea was his. If she used it today — which would be her first time doing so — Tony wasn't going to be there to see it.

Through the earpiece, Andi heard Steve's voice. "All right. What do you see?"

He was speaking to both Wanda and Andi. As the newest members to this whole dangerous game, this was more a test of what they'd learned through training. Wanda had been on more missions before this, but for Andi it was the first, so she was determined not to mess up.

"Standard beat cops," Wanda answered, idly stirring the coffee in the mug in front of her while she got a better look around. Andi followed her gaze to identify things as Wanda listed them off. "Small station. Quiet street. It's a good target."

"There's an ATM on the south corner," Steve continued. "Which means?"

"Cameras," Andi answered almost immediately, remembering a few sessions of hers with Nat. "And both streets are one way so, compromised escape routes."

"Which means our guy isn't afraid to make a scene or make a mess on the way out," Steve added. "You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?"

Andi vaguely wondered which building Steve was hiding out in, but he obviously had the same view as them.

"The red one?" Andi asked for confirmation before Wanda piped in.

"It's cute."

"It's also bulletproof," This time it was Nat who spoke into Andi's ear. "Which means private security. Which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. _Probably_ us."

"Okay, keep your eyes on the target, folks," Steve spoke. "This is our best lead on Rumlow in six months. I don't want to lose him."

"Huh," Andi recognised Sam's voice through the earpiece. He was likely stationed up high somewhere. "If he sees us coming, that won't be a problem. He hates our guts."

There was a bit of silence for a few moments before Steve spoke again. "Sam, see that garbage truck?" This time, Andi couldn't see what Steve was talking about so it must be further down the road, where a building blocked her view. "Tag it."

"Got it, Cap." After a few moments, Sam spoke again. "Yeah, the truck is loaded for maximum weight. And the driver's armed."

So that was their target. But what was he doing with an overloaded garbage truck?

"It's a battering ram," Nat spoke, and only then did the realisation dawn on Andi.

"We've got to move, _now_ ," Steve said.

"What?" Wanda was surprised, and so was Andi, because this was happening quicker than she expected. Nevertheless, she got to her feet and began to move, alongside Wanda, to the facility that was down the road. She heard the crash before she saw it, and as she and Wanda got closer, And could see where the garbage truck had toppled over, leaving the pathway open for large vans to enter and storm the place.

From afar, Andi saw as men with guns started to flow out from the back of the vans, immediately beginning to shoot at any security personnel on sight.

Wanda and Andi took a turn, deciding to launch over the walls to take them by surprise as they entered the place.

Andi couldn't fly, and she didn't have powers that could vault her over walls, but Wanda and her had been practising this — and since Andi was small, it worked easily.

Andi stood by the edge of the wall, and Wanda used her powers to lift her up and onto the other side, allowing her to land with a small roll to the ground. She managed to deflect two bullets that came her way because she fortunately noticed them in time. All she had to do was lift a hand and jerk it to one side and the bullet mimicked that movement.

By then, Wanda had landed beside her, and Andi sensed Sam flying overhead to help Steve, who had already landed on top of one of the trucks and dealt with a few of the armed men.

Men began to notice both her and Wanda now, so a rain of bullets came their way. Wanda simply lifted her hands, and a reddish forcefield formed in front of them, blocking any bullets that came their way, and allowing Andi to focus on the armed men. One by one, with a bit of concentration, she was able to yank the guns out of their hands using her control over metal.

There were many of them but she managed, using the butt of their guns to knock the men out at the same time so they didn't have to deal with them at all. Anyone that Andi missed, Sam took care of. The whole ordeal probably took a minute or two but it felt like much longer for Andi.

For the time being, nobody else was around, except her, Wanda, Steve and Sam. Sam was busy controlling his remote drone — or as he liked to call it, Redwing — and after a scan was done of the building by the drone, Sam spoke up. "Rumlow's on the third floor."

Steve nodded and looked to Wanda and Andi. "Just like we practised."

Wanda nodded. "What about the gas?"

"Get it out," Steve said, getting into position right before Wanda used her powers to launch him up and into the third floor. He used his shield to break his fall before running further into the building and disappearing from their view.

"Andi." Wanda's voice made her look back to her, and she realised they needed to work on getting out the gas. She knew immediately what she needed to do so she nodded and ran to the nearest window pane. All she had to do was press her fingers to the metal of it, and the entire sheet of glass began to vibrate before eventually shattering due to the intensity.

As the glass broke, Wanda used her powers to draw out the gas, keeping it as controlled as she could. While she worked on releasing it into the sky, Andi helped Sam take out a few more armed men. Sam used guns, and Andi used her abilities, at one point, using the car they were taking cover behind as a battering ram to push them against the wall behind them. It'd be enough to trap them for a while, which was all Andi wanted to achieve. These may be bad people, but Andi didn't quite think she had it in her to actually _kill_ them. She couldn't do that.

"Rumlow's got a biological weapon." The fact that Steve was saying that meant that Rumlow was no longer within his view. Which had to mean he got out of the building, and probably through the back, since Andi, Wanda and Sam were at the front and nobody else was there.

"I'm on it," Nat's voice came, and it wasn't long before Andi began to hear the telltale sounds of a fight. "They're getting away."

Sam took that as his cue to fly off into the air so he could track down whatever car they were in. Andi, like Wanda, moved on foot, out of the facility and into the streets to see what they could do.

"I see four of them. They're splitting up," Sam's voice came in through the earpiece. Andi couldn't see the four that he was talking about because they were still further ahead than Andi and Wanda, so the two of them continued running. From what Andi could hear through the earpieces, she had gathered that Sam went after one pair while Nat went after the other. And Steve... Steve was fighting directly with Rumlow not far up ahead. Andi could see the destruction that was a result of it.

"I've got nothing," Sam's voice came not long after. The men he'd been following had just been a decoy, which meant Nat had better luck.

As Andi waited to hear some good news, she and Wanda were nearing the place where Steve and Rumlow were still engaged in combat. Andi hadn't been told the whole story. What she knew was that he worked for Hydra, and that was more than enough to get Andi on board with getting rid of him.

"Payload secure," Nat's voice came suddenly. That meant that their mission was almost done with. All that was left to deal with was Rumlow.

She and Wanda had arrived at the scene and came to a stop. Steve was just a few feet in front of them, fighting with Rumlow, till Steve was backed into a corner, against a wall.

Rumlow held his hand out, and from it, a blade shot out, and just the sight of it made Andi's heart begin to race because she could only assume what he was going to do to Steve with it.

"This is for dropping a building on my face," Rumlow was saying, but Andi acted on instinct, reaching a hand out in that direction. In seconds, the blade flew off his hand. This was sudden enough to cause Rumlow to turn and look at her in surprise, which gave Steve the opening he needed to push Rumlow off and send him to the ground with a hard punch.

When Rumlow got up, Steve just gave him a kick, sending him spinning through the air till he landed on his back, on top of a nearby table. It broke underneath his weight, and Rumlow didn't get the chance to get up fully because Steve was in front of him now. He was kneeling, and Steve's hands curled around the collars of Rumlow's suit.

"Who's your buyer?" Steve asked him, looking him right in the eye.

Rumlow took his own sweet time in responding, but it wasn't the answer they were looking for. "You know," he began. "He knew you. Your pal, your buddy, your _Bucky_."

Steve's fists clenched and he pulled Rumlow closer. "What did you just say?"

Andi was not sure why that name struck a chord with him, but she attempted to move closer, with Wanda doing the same from the other side. This time though, Rumlow didn't look to Steve when he spoke. He turned, his gaze locking onto Andi, which made her freeze. "I've got quite a bit of dirt on you too, kid," he said with a sadistic smile on his face. "Your mom told me I'd probably run into you. And she said not to hesitate to take you down."

"Don't look at her," Steve spat, shaking him by the collar to get his focus back onto him. All Andi could think of was how this man knew her mother. And of course, there was the mild surprise of knowing that her mother was still alive and out there somewhere. Part of her always suspected it, but actually hearing it, having her suspicions be confirmed, was a different thing.

Rumlow was speaking to Steve again, taunting him. "He wanted you to know something," he said, and Andi forced herself to concentrate instead of letting her mind wander back to her mother. If Rumlow's intention had been to distract them, he was so far proving to do a successful job. Andi was still kind of frozen, and Steve's face fell, the initial anger vanishing, his expression now reading only concern and a bit of surprise.

"He said to me," Rumlow continued. "'Please tell Rogers, when you gotta go, you gotta go.'"

That didn't make sense to Andi but Rumlow then continued. And Andi only noticed in the last second that his hand had been moving toward his waist to grab something.

"And I'm taking you with me," he said with a grin, fingers clasping around what Andi identified as some kind of detonator. He was going to blow himself up.

"Wanda!"

The yell was enough to alert the other woman, and she had her hands at the ready. Before the explosion could spread beyond where Rumlow was, to reach Steve, Wanda had enveloped it in a kind of forcefield, keeping it contained to Rumlow.

For the time being.

Andi knew that she had to let it go, and because she was caught off guard, she also knew she couldn't hold it much longer. Knowing that launching the explosion into the sky and away from everyone else was the only way to do this, Andi acted fast, reaching into her shoulder pads to bring out a few seeds. She quickly tossed it to the ground, near Rumlow, and held her hands out. 

All it took was a second of concentration, and, feeling a tug in her gut, the seeds shook for a few moments before sprouting, large and fast. Thick vines carried Rumlow up at full speed, still surrounded by Wanda's energy.

Andi had intended to lead the explosion away from the civilians, but in the process, she hadn't been able to fully control the direction in which the vines grew. The began to lean, just as Wanda was letting go of her hold on Rumlow, and the very moment Wanda dropped her hands was when the vines pushed Rumlow, and the impending explosion, right into the side of a building.

Glass shattered, people were screaming, and smoke filled the air. Steve was speaking, calling for fire and rescue. But all Andi could do was stare at the flames that filled at least three floors in the building, while thinking about all the innocent people she just killed. 


	4. we can't always save everybody

_"Victory at the expense of the innocent is no victory at all."_

The voice of the Wakandan king, T'Chaka, continued in the background. Andi rarely watched the news but she had to know what she'd actually done, and after turning on the TV, she learned that many were killed, while many more were injured. And the only reason king T'Chaka was on the news talking about this was because eleven of those that perished were Wakandan people, who came to Lagos for an outreach mission. That made Andi feel even worse.

She sat on the edge of her bed, legs crossed. She wasn't looking at the TV because she didn't want to see footage of the destruction but she could still hear the voice of the news anchor going on.

Briefly, she looked up from her hands in her lap, to stare at the wall ahead. More specifically, the painting that hung on the wall straight ahead. In the past year, since Andi officially began to live at the Avengers new base, she had been given a room to call her own, where she could do anything she pleased. Andi had since redecorated because Tony's style was a little too _clean_ for her tastes.

She had redone the walls, painting them a deep green shade, her favourite colour. One part of the left wall, closest to the window, had a metal net that stood tall, hooked to the wall. Vines crawled along it, growing from a rectangular pot at the base of the net. On her dresser sat a few small trinkets — mainly pieces of metal that she tinkered with time to time to create something. She'd tried to do something for each member of the team, using scraps of metal and paint. For Steve she made a miniature version of his shield and for Sam, an actual falcon. She was busy working on Natasha's, and the half completed piece sat on her dresser, in the form of a misshapen spider. It was the hardest to work on because spiders honestly gave Andi the creeps.

She'd been through torture by Hydra and survived an exploding city, and yet _spiders_ were what freaked her out.

What further indicated that this room belonged to Andi, should anyone know her by now, were the paintings and sketches that lined the walls. Many of them were inspired by events in her life. Nat had told her, upon seeing her skill with art, that using it would try to help her get over her trauma, and it had helped, for the most part. Nobody thought it was a good idea to keep that hung up in her room since none of them were totally _nice_ events, but she stuck it up all the same.

One was of her cell when she was in the labs. The other was the city of Sokovia, under attack by Ultron's army. But the one she stared at now was of the mysterious hooded figure that had visited her when she passed out after Sokovia was destroyed. She remembered him plain as day, mainly because she never saw a face. Just a shadow within a cloak. She could still hear his voice, saying that they would meet again two more times.

 _For the next time, because you will need something. And the time after that, because of your death_.

Her death. Which was... when? Andi would be lying if she said the thought hadn't plagued her ever since she recalled it after waking up. She hadn't told anyone about it, not even Tony, but she had painted it, in the hopes that it would help her get over it and stop thinking about it, but that didn't really work. Andi didn't even know the guy's name so she had no clue what to look up on the internet, if there was even a record of him.

And if that wasn't bad enough, today she'd heard about her mother for the first time in years, and Andi couldn't help but feel like it was related somehow.

 _"Because that's the reality, if we don't respond to acts like these."_ The sound of the TV filtered in through Andi's thoughts and she looked away from the painting of the cloaked man to see the TV display a video of the scene at Lagos. It was taken from a phone, and only Andi's back could be seen — fortunately. It hadn't occurred to her that her face could be caught on screen because this whole mission wasn't supposed to turn out the way it did. _"What legal authority do enhanced individuals have to operate in Nigeria?"_

Andi didn't get to hear what the anchor said next because the TV screen went black. She turned around to see Steve standing in the doorway, holding a remote. He walked over and set the remote down on the dresser, curiously picking up her half finished model of a spider. "Is this for Nat?"

Andi looked at him for a moment before nodding and then looking down at her hands in her lap. She'd begun to fiddle with another piece of metal, altering its state and trying to shape it into something else. Before, Andi thought she could only move metal, or act like a human magnet, but with time, and with help from the Avengers, she learned that there was much more she could do. She also learned how to try to keep the voices of the dead at bay, but ever now and then, they still came up, usually when she was sleeping because she was more vulnerable then.

"I might do something different though. It's creepy, working on a spider," Andi mumbled.

Steve set the piece of metal down before walking over to sit down on the edge of the bed beside Andi. He didn't speak yet so Andi did instead. "How's Wanda?" Andi knew that she wasn't the only one affected by this. Wanda blamed herself too, for not being able to contain the explosion long enough, for not being able to prevent what had happened. Andi hadn't gone to speak to her though because she knew that she'd end up blaming herself too and none of that would do good for either of them.

"I just spoke to her. And she was doing the same thing as you," he said, nodding to the TV. "Blaming herself."

Andi lifted her head to look at Steve. "But I _am_ to blame. I could have controlled it and I didn't." _Because I was distracted. Because of my mother_.

Steve slowly shook his head. "I should have clocked that bomb vest long before you or Wanda had to deal with it. Rumlow said 'Bucky'... and all of a sudden I was a sixteen-year-old kid again in Brooklyn."

Steve looked down, clasping both hands together, his elbows resting on his knees. Andi realised she still didn't properly know who Bucky was. She knew most of Steve's story, including how he became Captain America, and she'd heard him mention Bucky before, but never the full story.

"Who is he?" She asked him curiously. She knew there was a chance he wouldn't want to get into it, but he surprised her by opening up.

"He was my best friend, before I went into the ice. And for a long time, the only person I thought I had. And for a while I thought I lost him," he explained, fiddling with his fingers. "Until two years ago when I saw him again."

This confused Andi. She knew Steve had come out of the ice seventy years after he went in, which was how he was here now. How could Bucky still be around?

The confusion must have been clear on her face because Steve looked at her again and chuckled a little. "It's a much longer story. Something we could maybe get into another day. But the short version is that he was brainwashed into becoming something he wasn't. Even after that though, I knew that deep down a part of the old Bucky, the one I knew and loved, was still there."

And what Rumlow said began to make sense. _He remembered you. Your pal, your buddy, your Bucky._ So Steve had been right then. And hearing that had distracted Steve.

"So when Rumlow said his name, I just... froze. So it's not on you. It's on me," Steve told Andi, looking at her.

Andi continued to fiddle with the scrap of metal between her fingers. Even if Steve was saying that, Andi knew deep down she could have done differently. "It's on both of us." Andi would never blame it on Wanda. She had contained it in the first place, and in the process, she saved the hundreds of people on the ground.

Steve sighed but continued to look at her. "In this job... we try to save as many people as we can," he explained, making Andi look at him again. "Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody."

And Andi knew that. She had seen that with Tony not that long ago, when he felt the need to do something to make sure that everyone was safe. But they could never achieve that.

"But," Steve continued. "If we can't find a way to live with that then next time... maybe nobody gets saved."

Andi nodded slowly. What he was saying made sense. And she knew that he was saying it to make her feel better, to stop blaming herself. It would take some time, of course, for Andi to accept that fully, but for the time being, talking to Steve helped.

A knock at the door made both Steve and Andi look toward it, and standing in the doorway was Vision.

"Sorry," he said, glancing between the two of them before focusing his gaze on Steve. "You wished to know when Mr. Stark was arriving."

Tony was here? Andi didn't know he was coming today. Although now that she thought about it, it made sense, considering all the destruction that had taken place. Andi's first mission and it went horribly.

Steve nodded and rose to get up. As Andi did the same, she heard the text alert on her phone, and looked behind her to find the device near her pillows. Reaching over to pick it up, she saw the message on the lock screen. It was from Peter.

> _Everything okay?_

Andi realised that he'd be wondering what was wrong since she got called out in the middle of class. But she had no idea what to say to him right now so she just tossed her phone back against the pillows. Right now, she wanted to see Tony.

As she and Steve walked to the door, Vision stopped, making them stop as well. He turned around to face them, and Andi arched an eyebrow in curiosity. "Oh, also, I believe Mr. Stark has brought a guest."

Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "Who?"

Vision glanced between both of them before responding. "The Secretary of State." 


	5. the sokovia accords

When Andi entered the room, everyone was already seated. Wanda and Rhodey took the seats at the front of the table, with Natasha and Vision right behind them. Behind Vision was Sam, and Steve took the seat that faced him, leaving Andi to sit at the single chair that was at the end of the table, between Sam and Steve. Andi noticed how Tony was sitting away from the group, on an armchair. She got the feeling that he knew what this whole gathering was about, and she didn't think it was going to be a very good thing.

"The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt," Secretary Ross was saying, standing at the front of the table and addressing them all. "You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives... but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word 'vigilantes'."

Andi swallowed. No, this was not going to go well at all. She still had no clue what this was going to end with. Were they getting some kind of warning for the chaos she caused back in Lagos? Or... or was it worse?

"What words would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha spoke up, looking at him with a coy smile.

"How about dangerous?" He replied. "What would you call a group of US-based enhanced individuals, who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose? And who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"

So this was definitely about Lagos. Andi shifted uncomfortably in her seat and rested her arms on the desk. Briefly, she glanced over at Tony, who looked like he was making an effort not to look her way.

Secretary Ross moved away from the centre of the room, and on the glass wall ahead, a projection appeared. It was a map of the world, with a few spots in certain continents highlighted. Each one was zoomed in on, only to show destruction.

"New York," Secretary Ross said, as the screen showed images of what happened not that long ago, when Loki invaded the city. Andi hadn't been there for that, since she'd been stuck in a lab, but Tony had told her about what happened. She just never realised how intense the destruction had been.

"Washington, D.C." Andi didn't know much about this one, except that Steve was involved, and so were Nat and Sam. And Bucky.

"Sokovia." This one was extremely familiar territory, since Andi had been directly involved. She watched as the screen showed the entire city of Sokovia lifting into the sky, all while a battle raged on on top of it. The entire city had been destroyed, and while she liked to think they evacuated everyone, she knew that not everyone survived. Like Pietro.

"Lagos." Andi bit down on her lip as she watched the footage of vines pushing Rumlow and the explosion he caused right into a building where several people perished. Briefly, she met Wanda's gaze, and she looked about as uncomfortable as Andi felt, which prompted Steve to speak up. "Okay, that's enough."

"For the past four years," Secretary Ross began speaking again, once the screen turned off, "you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate."

Andi began to chew her fingernails out of nervousness. She felt sick to her stomach because to her, it seemed like the man wanted to disband the Avengers. But it wasn't that. Not exactly.

"I think we have a solution," Secretary Ross said, accepting a thick bunch of bound papers from a man who stood beside him. Andi hadn't even noticed him when she came in, but in any case, she was more focused on the stack of papers that were now set in the centre of the table.

Andi leaned forward to try and read what was written on the front. Turned out she didn't need to try, because Secretary Ross said the words himself. "The Sokovia Accords."

Andi watched as Wanda picked It up in her hands and turned it over. "Approved by 117 countries," the Secretary continued speaking, "it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organisation. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

By the looks on everyone's faces, Andi could tell this was an unexpected move. And one not everyone was happy about.

Steve moved to make his opinion heard. "The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place," he said, looking up at Ross. "I feel we've done that."

Secretary Ross stood by him and looked down at Steve. "Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?"

That was a good question. Andi hadn't heard from the both of them in a long time. Well, since Sokovia, in fact.

"If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes, you can bet there'd be consequences," Ross told Steve before looking at all of them. "Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords. Talk it over."

As the Secretary was leaving, Nat spoke up. "And if we come to a decision you don't like?"

Ross's answer seemed simple enough. "Then you retire."

And with that, he was gone.

* * *

Within a couple of minutes, everyone had gravitated toward the living room, where the seating arrangement was more comfortable, compared to a meeting table and chairs, which made Andi feel like she was dealing with some serious business.

Well, technically she was. This was nothing to be taken lightly. Yet somehow, she felt like whatever she said wouldn't be taken seriously. She was a soon to be fifteen-year-old and these guys had been in the game much longer than she had. Well, except Wanda, but she was still older.

"117 countries want to sign this," Rhodey was telling Sam in the midst of an argument. " _117_ , Sam, and you're just like, 'No, that's cool. We got it'."

"How long are you going to play both sides?" Sam retorted.

Andi didn't like how this was going. So far, she had remained silent, and sat in one corner, away from the others. Just like Tony.

"I have an equation," Vision spoke up. He was seated beside Wanda, who also seemed to be quiet, like Andi. "In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. During the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate."

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked.

"I'm saying there may be a causality," Vision replied. "Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... Breeds catastrophe."

Natasha looked at Tony. "You are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal."

"That's because he's already made up his mind," Steve interjected, setting down the Sokovia Accords and looking to Tony as well.

Andi followed Steve's gaze to Tony, who was slumped down in an armchair, propped up only by a few cushions. "Boy, you know me so well." Tony got up from his seat to move into the adjoining open kitchen where he started to pour himself some coffee. While doing so, he pulled out his phone and set it on the counter, and with the press of a button, a hologram appeared. It showed the picture of a boy who was perhaps just a few years older than Andi.

"That's Charles Spencer, by the way. Nice kid," Tony said, pouring coffee into his cup. "Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA, had a floor-level gig and intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul before he parked it behind a desk. See the world." Tony set his cup down and leaned his hands on the counter while looking to everyon else. "Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Where? Sokovia."

Andi had felt the ending of the story coming before Tony said it, and she looked down at her hands in her lap, chewing down on her lower lip out of nervousness.

"He wanted to make a difference, I suppose," Tony continued. "I wouldn't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass." His expression was clear to Andi — He felt guilty. He wanted to save everyone. But as Andi learned very recently, that wasn't possible. Not always.

"There's no decicion-making process here," Tony moved toward them and leaned against one of the kitchen counters with his arms crossed over his chest. "We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes, I'm game."

Andi decided, finally, to speak up. "So suppose I never get the hang of my powers," she said, looking at Tony pointedly. "What if they decide to lock me up in a lab just like HYDRA did?"

Tony looked at her. "We're not talking about anyone being locked up. We're just talking about some boundaries. Without boundaries, we're no better than the bad guys."

"Right," Andi nodded. "But we're not the ones deciding those boundaries. Someone else is. People who can change their mind at any moment and see any one of us as dangerous."

Before Tony could respond, Steve spoke up. "Tony, if someone dies on your watch, you don't give up."

"Who said anything about giving up?" He replied.

"We are, if we're not taking responsibilities for our actions. This document just shifts the blame."

"I'm sorry, Steve," Rhodey interrupted. "That's dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council. It's not SHIELD. It's not Hydra," he looked to Andi briefly before looking back to Steve.

"No," Steve nodded. "But it's run by people with agendas, and like Andi said, agendas change. We can't predict what they'll do to us or have us do at a moment's notice."

"That's why I'm here," Tony said, walking closer to them all. "When I realised what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."

"Tony," Steve sighed. "You _chose_ to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose."

Andi had to admit that at the moment, both sides were pretty convincing. Andi wasn't sure where she stood. She didn't like the idea of being controlled, or the idea that there may be some action taken against her if she made a slip up like she did at Lagos. At the same time, she didn't _want_ any more slip ups. Maybe some kind of heirarchy would be a good system. Maybe it would prevent her from causing harm altogether.

"What if there's somehwere we need to go," Steve continued, "and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."

"If we don't do this now, it's going to be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty," Tony said.

Wanda finally spoke up. "So you're saying they'll come for us. Andi and me."

"We would protect you," Vision assured her.

"Maybe... Tony's right," Natasha finally added her input, which had both Sam and Steve looking at her.

"I'm sorry," Sam looked at her with an expression that Andi could only read as betrayal. "weren't you the one who told the Government to kiss her ass a few years ago?"

"I'm just... reading the terrain," she argued. "We've made some very public mistakes. We need to earn their trust back."

"I'm sorry," Tony looked to Natasha. "Did you just agree with me?"

And while the two argued about Natasha actually agreeing with Tony, Steve's phone buzzed. Andi noticed him take it out of his pocket to read whatever text he got. What she didn't expect was for him to set the phone down and get up to excuse himself.

His absence didn't go unnoticed. Everyone else stopped talking, and Tony bent down to retrieve the phone, clearly curious about what caused Steve to leave all of a sudden. When he read it, Tony pursed his lips, head hanging a little low.

"What is it?" Sam asked, looking at the phone, which Tony then handed to him.

"It's Peggy," Tony said, regardless. "She passed away in her sleep." 


	6. a turn of events

Ever since got the news that someone close to him had passed away, the mood in the base had shifted. The Accords definitely still stuck around in everyone's minds, with those who agreed with it signing off on it. Steve grabbed a jet and flew to London for the funeral and Sam had joined him. Everyone else retired to their rooms.

It was some time in the late afternoon now, and when Andi went back to her room, the first thing she did was pick up her phone to see the message from Peter, the one she had failed to respond to. After a split second decision, Andi texted him back:

> _Yeah, everything's fine. You wanna meet up?_

Andi grabbed some loose change lying on her desk and stuffed it in her pocket because she intended to go out whether Peter was free or not. Maybe some roaming around would help clear her mind — and help her make a decision on these Accords because they were still waiting on her signature, along with Steve, Sam and Wanda's.

As Andi headed out of her room and went downstairs to the main exit, her phone buzzed. Lifting it, she read the reply from Peter.

> _Sure. The deli?_

Andi smiled to herself a little and quickly typed back that she would be there in fifteen to twenty minutes. The Avenger's base wasn't exactly in the middle of the city, and she didn't feel like asking Vision for a ride which meant she had to walk to the main road to catch a bus.

While she was walking, she heard the sound of a car behind her, coming up the driveway. She didn't turn, because the car soon came up beside her and rolled to a stop, causing her to stop as well, to turn and see Tony in the driver's seat. "Need a ride?"

Andi had a feeling the offer for a ride was more to talk, which she wasn't sure she wanted to do right now, but she figured that it might help, so she silently climbed into the passenger's seat and buckled herself in.

At first, it was silent between them. Tony drove, faster than any bus would have, and along the way, Andi's phone buzzed with another text from Peter, saying he was ging to be a few minutes late.

"Who's that?" Tony asked, glancing at her phone from the corner of her eye before looking back to the road.

"Nosy much?" She asked him in return, a small smile on her face. "Just this boy from class that I'm meeting."

"A boy," Tony echoed, while nodding. "Does this boy have a name?"

"Peter," she told him as she fiddled with her phone absently.

"Peter," he repeated and looked at her. "Peter Parker?"

Andi furrowed her eyebrows and looked to him. "How do you—"

"Doesn't matter," Tony brushed it off and looked back to the road, taking a turn as they delved further into the heart of the city, now that they were away from the Avenger's base. "So, we should probably talk about what went on back there."

Andi knew that was coming eventually. She continued to fiddle with her phone as she spoke. "What's there to talk about? You made up your mind. I haven't yet."

"Right," Tony nodded. "But something you said has been gnawing at me since then," he looked to her in between, for a moment. "Do you really think we'd let anyone lock you up?"

Andi shrugged. "Why wouldn't they? You saw what I did. What I _caused_. I feel terrible that it happened at all, but what feels worse is knowing that it could happen again. What if I can never control it? I don't even know half the things I'm capable of. The only people that really knew were HYDRA and... and my mom."

She hadn't thought of her mom in a long time, and for good reason. The woman had introduced her to a life of torture, a life of being a guinea pig. And she was still out there somewhere.

"We're here to help you, Andi," Tony told her. "You saw the kind of destruction we caused in New York when Loki attacked. We thought we knew what we were doing too, and we did, in a way, but that didn't stop the destruction. At least this way... this way less people get hurt."

"How can you be sure of that?" Andi looked up from her phone and toward him. "How do you know that this is the right move to make?"

"Because we've already tried it the other way," Tony explained, slowing the car down near the curb because they'd reached the deli that Andi told him to drive to. "And we know what happened that way. Don't you think it's worth it to see how we'd work with a little more control? Nothing would change. If anything, you'd be more prepared because the people looking over us will make sure of it. We can give you the training you need and avoid incidents like Sokovia and Lagos."

Andi bit down on her lower lip, unable to find any words to speak, because she was still a little confused. She had to admit though, that control might be better for them all.

Reaching into the back seat, Tony pulled out the Accords and flipped to the last page. Andi saw his signature, along with Nat, Rhodey and Vision's. "I'm not going to let anyone lock you up. No matter what."

Andi looked at Tony's outstretched hand, which held a pen, and after a moment's hesitation, she took it and signed her name. That was it. It was done. She still wasn't totally sure how she felt about it, but she trusted Tony more than anyone.

Releasing a relieved sign, Tony shut the document and put it on the back seat again before unlocking the car doors. "I'm flying out of New York tomorrow, but I'll see you in a day or two when I get back," he told her as she got out of the car. "You going to be okay getting back?"

Andi nodded. "I'll take the bus."

"Be careful with this Parker kid," Tony added on, one hand on the steering wheel, while the other rested on the gear.

Andi smiled a little. "His name's Peter."

"Same difference," Tony shrugged. "I mean it though, be careful. I'll see you soon."

And with that, he drove off, leaving Andi alone on the side of the curb. The sun was slowly setting, leaving streaks of pink, orange and gold in the sky. Andi had on just a plain t-shirt and jeans, but now she was wishing she brought a jacket because the wind was picking up.

Turning away from the road, Andi faced the small deli a few feet away. There were hardly any people inside, but she figured it might still be warmer than standing out on the curb so she moved to head inside.

Once indoors, she nodded to Sal, the guy behind the counter who ran the place. She had become well acquainted with him since starting high school because the place was pretty close by and they had great sandwiches, so she stopped by frequently. Most of the time, it was with Peter, so it had sort of become like a meeting spot for them.

Since he was probably going to take another few minutes, Andi loitered around inside, moving toward the back where they kept sodas and other cold drinks. She opened up one of the fridges to grab something when she heard something questionable.

Andi turned around, only to see three guys standing by the cash register. They wore masks over their faces, and from where Andi stood, they looked like clown masks. What stood out to her though, was the fact that they were all holding guns.

The three other customers in the deli were on the floor and Andi realised they hadn't noticed her yet. She moved away from the fridge to hide herself behind one of the shelves. She figured maybe she could act discreetly and get the guns away from them, but as she moved hastily, she dropped the soda can she'd grabbed from the fridge. That certainly put a wrench in her plans.

Andi winced at the loud sound and one of the men came toward her. "Come out of there," he barked, and after a moment, Andi sighed and walked out from behind the shelves to face all three men. One of them was closer, and had his gun aimed right at her. She could easily deflect a bullet, since she was alert now, but she was up against three others.

"Walk over here with your hands up," the man instructed, waving his gun around. "Don't try anything funny."

Andi scoffed. "Right, because you guys are already taking care of that."

"What did you say?" Okay, maybe it wasn't the best idea to rile them up. But maybe doing so would catch them off guard and if she focused properly, she could get the guns out of their hands. She'd be risking them going off though, if they fell the wrong way. She'd also be exposing herself and her powers. It was a tough decision to make.

When Andi failed to respond, the man held his gun up in the air and fired a shot toward the ceiling, causing the other people to scream, and for parts of the ceiling to fall, some of it getting on Andi.

"Since you seem to not care about getting shot, you can help us empty the cash register and the safe kept out back," said masked man number one, aka, the one closest to her. He waved his gun, gesturing for her to come closer to the cash register. "Come on, get moving or the next shot will be in your direction."

Andi moved slowly toward the counter, glancing briefly at a scared Sal and then at each of the three men. Two of them had held a person down, as hostages of sorts. That made this trickier. She needed some kind of surprise, some distraction that would allow her to get the guns away. Once that was done, they'd be defenceless. Or maybe she could get the focus away from the hostages by causing a commotion. They'd all want to jump into action then, wouldn't they?

It was worth a shot.

As Andi neared the register, she was close enough to the guy barking orders at her, so in a split second decision, she pushed out, knocking the gun from his hand. It clattered to the floor and slid away, causing one of the other men to let go of his hostage to turn the gun on her. Just as he fired his gun, the glass of the main doors shattered. Andi narrowly avoided being hit by the bullet that came her way, and she fell to the floor in time to look up and see that the glass broke because someone had crashed right through it. _Intentionally_.

Brushing away the glass shards from her hair, Andi looked to the left to see that one of the men — the one that almost shot her — had been kicked into a wall, and standing in his place was someone else. Someone in a red and blue suit. Andi recognised him, because she watched the news. He was becoming an increasingly popular figure in the media. A vigilante of sorts. Andi mainly remembered him because his name reminded her of the one creature that creeped her out.

_Spider-Man._


	7. time to be a teenager

This wasn't exactly how Andi planned for her evening to go.

Still down on the ground, she looked up to see Spider-Man moving to disarm one of the other guys. Meanwhile, the man that Andi had gone for initially was now scrambling across the floor to grab the gun that she had knocked out of his hand. Spider-Man had swiftly webbed the hand of the man he'd gone after to the wall, so he was unable to use his gun. By the time he turned around, however, he had a gun aimed at him.

Two of the three masked men were out of the picture, but now things became a little tricky. Andi, of course, was not aware what Spider-Man was capable of. Not completely. She knew there was webbing involved, which paid homage to his name, and he seemed pretty quick on his feet, based on the many videos she saw. She did not, however, think he had quick reflexes. It didn't cross her mind, so when she saw a gun being pointed at him, Andi knew she had to do _something_.

In the second that passed since Spider-Man turned to face the last man standing, Andi reached one hand out in the man's direction and focused on the gun. In a matter of moments, it flew from his hand, clattering onto the floor a few feet away from him. Thank God guns were made from some metal variant, or she might not have been able to do anything.

The distraction she caused was enough to confuse not just the man, but Spider-Man too, since he probably wasn't sure how the gun just flew out of the man's hand. Nevertheless, Spider-Man acted first, shooting some webbing at the man's hand and sticking it to the deli counter.

Andi took that opportunity to slowly stand up and see all three men now struggling to get out of webbing, and something told her that they wouldn't be able to. Not any time soon anyway, and Andi could already hear sirens in the distance.

Andi dusted off the rest of the shattered glass that had fallen on her when Spider-Man crashed through the doors. Then she moved forward, attempting to help one of the women that had fallen to the floor when the men first came in. When she did that and turned around, she came face to face with Spider-Man.

"Are you okay?" He asked her. Andi felt like the voice was a little familiar, though it was also partly muffled by the suit he had on.

"Uh, yeah," Andi nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." She glanced toward the other three people in the store who had now stood up and were moving to the door to get out onto the streets, where two cop cars had pulled up. Someone must have heard the gunshots and alerted the authorities.

Spider-Man looked toward the door and then back to Andi. He seemed fidgety. Andi then realised that he didn't want to stick around while the cops were there.

"It's okay," she told him, before he could say anything. She was letting him know it was all fine and he didn't need to stick around. She didn't want him to get caught by the cops. Andi still wasn't sure how they'd see vigilantes, even if the Accords hadn't been ratified yet.

Spider-Man nodded after a moment and backed away. "T-take care." Only after speaking those two words did he move to leave. He simply jogged out the front door and used his webbing to get to the roof of the opposite building, and then he was gone.

Andi walked to the main entrance of the deli, joining the other victims as the police questioned them. They questioned her too, but the process went along pretty quickly since they had the perps right where they wanted them.

An ambulance arrived soon enough, but Andi didn't get there yet because as soon she was done being questioned, she turned around to see Peter jogging along the sidewalk. He came to a stop in front of her, seemingly out of breath.

"I just... saw... someone from inside the store posted a video of what happened online. Are you okay?" Peter asked, taking pauses in between, as and when he took a breath, before he reached forward and pulled Andi into a hug. It was brief though, because he quickly pulled away to scold her like she was a mischievous child. "What were you thinking, knocking the gun out of that guy's hand when there were two more of them? Something really bad could have—"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "We had a masked vigilante come to the rescue. That guy Spider-Man, from the news."

"Well, he might not always be around," Peter protested. "I mean—" He looked like he wanted to say something, but decided against it at the last minute. Andi raised an eyebrow curiously, but before she could ask, he continued, saying something else. "Please don't do things like that ever again," he asked of her, practically in a whine.

Andi gave him a small smile and nodded. "Okay," she promised. "I won't. Now can we please get out of here?"

Peter nodded, but as he was about to turn around, he spotted something and stopped. His hand reached out toward her and she froze as the tips of his fingers brushed her forehead. "You're bleeding."

Andi lifted a hand to the corner of her forehead and when she brought it back, she saw a little blood tainting her fingertips. She remembered the way some glass pieces had fallen on her when the door shattered, but she hadn't felt any sting from being cut. Must have been the adrenaline.

"Come on, the EMTs are right there," Peter placed a hand on her elbow and turned her around so they could walk toward the ambulance. In a few minutes, they'd patched up Andi's wound, which was pretty small anyway, and she was walking down the sidewalk with Peter.

In between, Andi's phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket to see Tony's picture flashing across the screen, causing her to wince. If Peter had seen the video of what happened online, then there was a good chance Tony had as well. It wasn't exactly a conversation she wanted to have right now, so she just shoved her phone back into her pocket.

"Everything okay?"

Andi looked over to Peter, who was looking down at her with an expression that she deduced was concern. "Yeah, just my... uncle, calling to check if everything's okay. I'll just face the music when I get home," she explained with a small smile, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans while she walked.

"Oh yeah, he pulled you out of class earlier today too, what happened?" Peter asked, recalling that moment from the morning.

Andi bit down on her lip. She hadn't actually thought of what to say, even though he'd asked her about it earlier. She thought he would have just forgotten about it by now. "Nothing major. He just needed some help at home, but it's taken care of now." Not totally a lie. She _had_ been needed, but she also ended up causing a mess. And it was taken care of with the Accords, and not everyone agreed with it.

"This wasn't exactly how I pictured this evening to go," Peter said with a small chuckle, looking down at the pavement as they walked.

Andi returned the light laugh with one of her own. "Yeah, me neither. I was itching for one of Sal's meatball subs."

Peter kicked a rock that was in their way before looking over at her. "I... I mean, I know a place close by that has some great subs too, if... if you wanna go?"

Andi slowed her pace till she eventually stopped, only because Peter stopped as well. She figured that it was because they had to take a turn to get to the place he was talking about. The offer was tempting. Andi wanted nothing more than to be able to spend time with Peter, because every second she spent with him made her heart beat faster.

Clearly, this offer was doing much more because she began to notice grass beginning to grow around Peter's feet, her powers acting as a result of her emotions. Andi hoped he wouldn't notice, so she quickly met his gaze again.

"I would love that," she told him with a smile. Before she could say anything else, she felt her phone buzz in her back pocket, making her sigh. As much as she wanted to join him for a sub, she knew she couldn't do that right now. "But I can't." Not wanting him to think she wasn't interested, she quickly tried to add on to what she said. "It's just, my uncle's expecting me home, after what happened, and staying out late might just get me grounded forever," she explained with a small laugh. "I don't want that to happen because then I'd never get to spend time outside after school."

Peter offered her a smile as well. "Yeah, I don't want that either," he told her, lifting his hands to pull the straps of his backpack closer to his body.

"We could go tomorrow though," Andi told him, because she really did want to go. "After class."

Seemingly pleased by the idea, Peter grinned and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds great."

"Perfect," Andi was already excited for it. She knew it wasn't a _date_ or anything, but it was nice to hang out with Peter. And it was nice to know that he enjoyed hanging out with her too. For the moment, she wasn't going to torture herself with wondering whether it was just platonic from his end.

The sun had almost gone down completely now, and the air outside was cooler. Andi felt her phone buzz again, and she knew she ought to get back to the base, and soon.

"I should—" As she began to speak, Peter did as well, so neither of them really heard what the other had started to say. They both stopped talking at the same time too, so with a chuckle, Andi gestured for him to continue. "You go first."

"I was just saying that you looked a little cold," he explained, halfway through pulling his bag off of his shoulders so he could shrug out of his jacket and hand it over to her.

Andi's cheeks grew warm as she accepted the jacket from him and slipped into it. "Thank you," she told him, feeling rather comfortable in it. The sleeves were a little long for her, but she didn't mind. It felt nice. "I was going to say that I need to get going, before my uncle calls me for a fourth time."

Peter laughed softly and nodded. "Yeah, of course. I'll see you tomorrow in class then?"

"Tomorrow," Andi confirmed with a nod, not entirely sure how they should part ways. Was it appropriate to hug? Or maybe shake hands? No, that was too formal. What Andi ended up doing was probably worse than all those options.

With a smile on her face, she reached forward and gently nudged Peter's shoulder with her hand. "Bye."

Fortunately for her, and contrary to her beliefs, Peter didn't show any signs of thinking she was weird for doing that. Instead, he did the same to her shoulder. "Bye."

Reluctantly, Andi turned away from him and began to walk along the pavement, heading toward the bus stand. She knew she was in for a hard time once she reached the base, yet the entire way back, Andi couldn't stop smiling. 


	8. the return of the winter soldier

"Hey."

Andi looked up from where she lay on her bed to see Wanda leaning against the doorway to her room, her arms crossed. Her expression was a mixture of boredom and frustration, which Andi understood because she felt the same way.

The previous night when she came home, she listened to Tony go off on her about responsibility and a bunch of other things Andi didn't _actually_ listen to. She'd been on the phone with him so it was simple to tune him out here and there, adding in an occasional 'okay' or 'i'm sorry' to keep up the ruse that she was paying attention.

The call ended with Tony insisting she skip the next day of school, because he needed to do 'damage control', which Andi didn't understand, or get the chance to protest to. Soon after that, Andi went to bed, and since the morning, she'd been cooped up in her room, tinkering with a few pieces of metal to add to the collection of items she was making for each member of the team. The spider Andi had been working on for Nat now ended up being painted differently, to reflect the masked hero who'd come to her aid last evening.

Andi was now working on a bow and arrow for Clint. She knew she hadn't seen him in a while, and he said he was retired, but she liked to think she'd see him soon, and in all honesty, she didn't have any ideas yet on what she could make for Nat, so this was the only other way she could keep herself occupied.

"You okay?" Andi asked Wanda, sitting up straight and leaving space for Wanda to sit if she wanted to. After a moment, she decided to accept that silent offer by moving toward the bed and sitting down on the edge of it with her legs crossed.

"That's a complicated question right now," she said with a small laugh. Wanda looked around at Andi's room before letting her gaze set back on Andi. "I heard about your incident yesterday."

Andi winced a little. "Yeah, I think everyone's heard about it," she chuckled. So far, nobody had come to speak to her about it though. Probably because they were all busy with the Accords. Steve and Sam were still in London, because the funeral was earlier that day, and they'd needed to prepare for it the day before. Vision was around, and Nat had left to London as well, to be with Steve.

"I didn't even know you'd gone out," Wanda continued with a small shrug. "I think Vision's been tasked with keeping me indoors."

"What?" Andi furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Why?"

Wanda pursed her lips. "Because I'm a danger to other people."

Well that was a load of crap. Andi knew that she hadn't signed off on the Accords officially, but that didn't mean Wanda had to be locked up like she was some kind of animal. This was exactly what Andi feared was going to happen.

"No, that doesn't make sense," Andi shook her head. "I'm just as much to blame for what happened as you." Hell, Andi was younger and more volatile than Wanda as well, since she still had trouble with control. "Why was I allowed to go out?"

Wanda shrugged yet again. "I don't know. But they can't keep you in here forever, you have to go to school."

"Yeah well I didn't go today, did I?" Andi sighed and ran a hand through her hair to push it back and away from her face. "This sucks."

Wanda laughed softly, though it didn't hold much humour. She looked toward the TV which was on in the background, but had been muted, and Andi watched her expression change. "Hey, turn that up," Wanda said, nodding toward the TV.

Andi looked to the screen and saw a number of disturbing images. She hastily reached for the remote that sat on the bedside table and increased the volume. Slowly, the voice of the news anchor filled the room.

 _"... received news that James Buchanan Barnes, also known as The Winter Soldier, has been taken into custody, as of one hour ago. Authorities caught him trying to flee, after the bombing earlier this morning in Vienna, where a conference was being held to ratify The Sokovia Accords. Among the casualties was the King of Wakanda, T'Chaka..._ "

"Is... is that Steve?" Andi asked Wanda as she stared at the red, blue and white suit that was unmistakably Captain America's. She knew it was him. She just felt like this couldn't be real.

Instead of Wanda answering, Andi got her answer from the anchor not moments later.

_"Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson, well known members of the team known as the Avengers, were also involved in the capture of Barnes, and we're currently waiting affirmation as to whether they were actually helping Barnes escape or not."_

"Why would they help?" Andi looked to Wanda. "Who is he?"

Wanda chewed on her lower lip for a moment before responding, her gaze still glued to the TV. "That's Bucky."

Bucky. The name that caused Steve to freeze the other day, when Rumlow said it. The person who clearly meant a lot to Steve if he was willing to throw himself into such a situation for him. Now with the Accords being signed, things didn't seem too good for Steve and Sam, who both neglected to sign the document.

Andi was almost scared to ask her next question, but she did anyway, even though she knew Wanda wouldn't have an answer for her. "What happens now?"

"Andi?"

Andi looked up to the doorway to see Vision standing there. "Mr. Stark is in the living room, he asked me to come get you."

Andi was more than happy to get out of bed to meet Tony because she wanted to know what the hell was going on. Without another word, she crawled off of the bed and walked past Vision, taking the stairs two at a time till she arrived at the living room, where Tony was seated on the couch, phone in hand.

"Oh, good," he said, standing up when he saw her enter the room. "I need to leave, there's—"

"Yeah, I saw the news," Andi told him, panting a little. "What's going to happen to Steve and Sam?"

Tony hesitated a little before responding. "I'm going to go talk to them. That's why I came here first, I needed to grab something I left in my office, and I wanted to tell you to stay out of trouble while I'm gone."

Ignoring pretty much most of what he said, Andi spoke again. "What's going to happen to Steve and Sam?" She asked again, a little impatiently this time around.

Tony sighed. "Nothing's going to happen to them, okay? That's why I'm trying to get down there as soon as I can. I'm going to talk to Secretary Ross and sort this whole thing out."

"Right," Andi nodded. "That's what you said yesterday. That nothing bad would happen by signing, yet you kept Wanda locked up in here." Andi could tell that she had caught him off guard with that question, but she continued, nonetheless. "I don't understand why you let me leave though. Is this because I signed and she didn't? Because—"

"No," Tony shook his head. "No, it's— I just had to take some precautionary measures till the Accords stuff was dealt with. It's not permanent, it's just... it's better to be on the safe side."

"And what precautionary measure did you take with me?"

Tony avoided looking at her, instead looking down at his shoes, which prompted Andi to ask the question again. _"What precautionary measures did you take with me?"_ She hadn't been forced to stay indoors, so what was it?

"I put a tracker in your phone," he said finally, now meeting her gaze. "To be fair, I didn't do that after what happened in Lagos, I did that when I gave you the phone, a year ago."

"And that makes it better, _how_?"

"Look, Andi, this isn't the time to get into this, okay? I need to go and sort out another mess, and when I get back, we can talk about it," he tried to reason with her. "Sound good?"

Andi wasn't having it though. "No, I want to come with you." Tony began to protest, but before he could say much, Andi interrupted him. "I want to make sure Sam and Steve are okay so I'm going to find a way to get there anyway, whether you let me come with you or not."

The room was silent for a few moments, while Tony pondered his decision. Eventually, he gave in. "Fine," he relented. "But before we go, I want you to understand this — I'm not the bad guy here, Andi. I just... I'm trying to do the right thing."

Andi bit down on her lower lip and waited a moment before responding. "I know you are," she told him. "But sometimes what you're doing isn't always the right thing."


	9. all hell breaks loose

Andi had never been to Berlin, but she always imagined that the first visit would be to explore the place, instead of to accompany Tony who had been called in to deal with Steve and Sam going rogue.

They'd arrived at a rather fancy looking building, and Andi silently followed Tony as he walked in and took the elevator up. Upon stepping off, Andi entered a room that had a lot of monitors, and two conference rooms of sorts, covered only by glass. She sat down on one of those chairs for nearly half an hour before some progress was made and Tony informed her that Steve and Sam had been brought in, along with Bucky, and the new Wakandan king, T'Challa.

Now Andi paced one of those conference rooms, while Tony spoke to secretary Ross on the phone. He wanted an update, apparently, and Andi's feelings toward him were slowly veering into negative territory.

"No," Tony was saying into the phone. Romania was not Accords sanctioned. Colonel Rhodes is supervising cleanup." As he spoke, Andi stopped pacing because she noticed familiar faces walking into the room. Natasha led the charge, with a dark skinned man beside her. Andi assumed that this was T'Challa, since the only other people present with her were Sam and Steve, who brought up the back.

"Consequences?" Tony's voice filtered in through her thoughts once more as he too noticed Sam and Steve coming in. "You bet there'll be consequences. Obviously you can quote me on that, because I just said it. Anything else? Thank you sir." Tony hung up his phone and walked up to Steve and Sam, while Andi slowly approached from behind as well.

"Consequences?" Steve echoed, looking at Tony.

"Secretary Ross wants you both prosecuted," Tony explained to the two men standing before him. "Had to give him something."

This wasn't exactly what Andi pictured when Tony said he was going to talk to them, but she was going to see where it went.

"I'm not getting that shield back, am I?" Steve asked.

Andi almost forgot about that. She looked to Tony who was walking further into the room and past the conference room with Natasha. "Technically," the redhead said. "It's the government's property. Wings too," she added, looking to Sam.

"That's cold," Sam said, with a bit of a smile.

"Warmer than a jail cell," Tony called out before disappearing. Andi, unsure of what to do, stepped forward a little, but remained at the edge of the conference room, so she wasn't totally outside it. Steve noticed her once Tony and Nat were gone, and he and Sam both walked into the conference room.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her curiously. "Didn't you have school today?"

Andi nodded. "I did, but I didn't go. There was... an incident, the day before yesterday," Andi explained to him. When Steve just stared, Andi elaborated. "I went out in the evening to meet up with a friend and three men tried to rob the deli I was in," she told him, moving to sit down on one of the chairs while Steve took the one that faced her, and Sam sat at the head of the table, between them. "I didn't really think things through properly. I wanted to try and help, but before I could see my decisions implode on me, the whole situation was sort of solved by someone else."

"Someone else?" Sam arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Spider-Man," she told him. "You might have seen him on YouTube or something?"

"Oh, right," Sam nodded. "I think I remember seeing something about him. First ants and now spiders."

Andi furrowed her eyebrows. "Huh?"

Sam shook his head and chuckled softly. "Nothing."

"So," Steve spoke up, "you think you messed up there?"

Andi shrugged. "I realised after it happened that my decision hadn't been the best one. I was just... caught up on trying to keep anyone from being harmed. Truth is, I had no idea what I was doing, so it was kind of cool that someone else came and put a stop to things."

"Sounds like someone's got a crush," Sam smirked.

"Shut up." Andi's tone wasn't serious, of course, which was why Sam continued to grin at her.

"Nah, she's got her eye on someone else," Steve said. "That kid you keep texting. What's his name again? Peter?"

Andi pursed her lips, refusing to accept or deny, which only made Steve smile a little wider. "My point is," Andi continued, trying to move past the whole 'crush' thing. "I could have made things a whole lot worse. Just like I made things worse in Lagos. I still can't control this," Andi held her hands up briefly, "and I don't know when I'll be able to. We can't just jump into battle whenever we feel like it. So far, I've seen that those instances usually cause the most destruction."

Steve bit down on his lower lip and nodded slightly. Before he could say anything though, Steve entered the room. "Hey kid, mind giving us a minute?"

"Not a kid," Andi reminded him as she rose to her feet. She offered Steve and Sam both a small smile before she left the conference room and walked around it to go stand off to the side, where Natasha was. From there, she could see what was going on inside the conference room, and she was nervous because she wasn't sure what to expect.

"Did you talk to him?" Nat asked her when she reached her.

Andi nodded. "I did. I told him what I felt," she explained, because she didn't want to be used as some kind of conversion tactic. Part of her _still_ felt like the other option wasn't totally bad either, but there was nothing she could do about that now.

"Well," Nat said as she watched Sam leave the room too, heading into the other conference room while Tony approached Steve with a small box in his hands, "now we just wait and see what happens."

And that's exactly what they did. Andi watched as Tony and Steve eventually sat down before engaging in conversation for what felt like hours, when in reality only a couple of minutes had passed by. Steve eventually picked up a pen, and it looked like there was some sort of agreement. But then something happened, and Steve stood up, looking all riled up.

"That can't be good," Nat murmured, having been watching the whole thing herself. The two of them watched as Steve set the pen back down on the table before leaving the conference room and going to the next one, where Sam was.

After a moment, Andi moved forward, going into the room where Tony was still seated. She hung around the entrance, just looking at him for a moment. "I take it things didn't go too well."

Tony lifted his head from his hands and looked at Andi. "You did good though," he told her. "I think he was half convinced just because of what you said, so."

Andi thought about what she could say to him, but before she got the chance, something else caught her attention.

Through the glass of the conference room, she could see all the screens, and one of them was zoomed in on a face she recognised from the news. One glance into the neighbouring conference room told her that her suspicions were right, because of the way Steve was staring at the screen intently. That was Bucky.

"What are they doing to him?" Andi asked Tony as she walked further into the room, all the way to the end, so she could see the screen properly.

"Psychological Evaluation," Tony explained, swivelling around in his chair and facing the screens as well. "Which is something I think we should get done for you too, since you never really got one after getting out of Sokovia."

Instead of arguing about that, Andi just asked Tony a simple question. "Can we hear what they're saying?"

Andi turned and faced Tony briefly, and she watched as he pressed a button on the table, rather than answering her. As soon as he pressed it, voices filled the conference room, and when she turned back, the TV in the conference room was suddenly on.

"I've been sent by the United Nations to evaluate you," said a male's voice. Andi couldn't see who it belonged to since the screen only showed Bucky, but she knew that it was whoever was questioning him. Andi looked to the collection of screens behind the glass and one of them showed a slightly zoomed out shot of the room, and she noticed a man sitting down at a table kept in front of Bucky's cell, but Andi couldn't see his face.

"Your first name is James?" The man asked, while getting something out of his briefcase. "Do you know where you are, James?"

There was no response, which prompted the man to continue speaking. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."

Finally, he spoke. "My name is Bucky." He remembered that. That had to be a good thing, right? Andi assumed that it was a childhood nickname, and if that was the case... then he had to remember Steve too. Maybe. Andi was still a little unclear about the whole situation between the two former friends. Natasha could only fill her in on so much before other things interrupted them.

"Tell me, Bucky," the man continued, using his preferred name. "You've seen a great deal, haven't you?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You fear that if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop," the man deduced. "Don't worry. We only have to talk about one."

Andi furrowed her eyebrows. "What is he talking about?" She asked Tony without looking at him. She got no response though, which told her that he didn't know either.

Just moments later, the power went out. Andi looked around and noticed a few dim lights, which were probably precautions for such a situation. Near the exit was a blinking red light.

Tony got to his feet and Andi could vaguely hear a man outside asking if anyone had eyes on Bucky.

Tony tapped the side of his glasses before speaking. "Friday, get me a source on that outage."

Andi looked into the next conference room in time to see both Sam and Steve sprinting from inside and heading toward the exit. Andi was willing to bet that they were off to find Bucky, and she had a bad feeling about this whole thing, especially since it seemed like the power outage was no accident.

Andi followed Tony out of the conference room and toward where Natasha was. She was in conversation with a man Andi didn't recognise but she heard someone calling him Ross. Clearly not the Secretary of State Ross, but definitely still someone important, apparently, since he was barking orders into a walkie-talkie. Andi guessed he was with the FBI or something.

There were alarms blaring from somewhere in the building, despite there being no power, which meant the situation was slowly getting worse. Agent Ross took off, ordering an evacuation and taking other precautions while Nat and Tony looked at each other.

"Tell me you brought a suit," Nat said as she started walking with Tony — a little faster than normal — toward the exit. Andi quickly followed behind them, though silently.

"Sure did," Tony said. "It's a lovely Tom Ford, three-piece, two button." Andi still had not gotten used to Tony's levels of sarcasm since it never seemed to end. "I'm an active-duty non-combatant."

From their right, a blonde woman came up beside them. Andi vaguely recognised her. She'd been in the conference room with Steve and Sam before the power went out. She had a feeling that they knew each other prior to all of this.

"Follow me," she told Natasha and Tony before hurrying down a corridor. Nat followed quickly, but before Tony could, he stopped and turned, causing Andi to stop as well.

"Not you," he told her before turning back around and following Natasha and the blonde. He was soon out of view, but Andi didn't stay still long. She may not always make the best decisions, but she wasn't going to sit back and watch while her team dealt with a threat.

"Like hell," she muttered to herself before going in the same direction, and picking up the pace. 


	10. time for plan b

Andi almost lost sight of Tony, Nat and the blonde woman they were with for a short while. They needed to travel all the way down, which was where Andi guessed Bucky was, but it was hard to follow so quickly after them when there was a good chance she could be spotted by them on the stairs.

Then again, she didn't particularly mind if they saw her or not since she doubted they'd actually stop what they were doing to lecture a fourteen-year-old.

Andi had just turned a corner to find the three of them splitting up. Tony was hiding himself behind a column and peeking around it every few moments, and Andi followed his gaze to see Bucky... only he looked much more savage. This was Steve's best friend? His violence didn't make sense to her, but now wasn't really the time to try and make sense of things.

Andi looked back to Tony and she watched as he tapped his watch a few times, only for the glove of his Iron Man suit to grow and encompass his whole right hand. In the next moment, he moved out from behind the pillar and shot something toward Bucky. It wasn't something to hurt him, but rather to slow him down, which was all Andi could guess when she noticed the look of discomfort on Bucky's face, and the way he stopped pulverising one of the guards that had approached him.

Tony took the opening to advance toward Bucky, and he used his glove to release a flash of blinding light, which caused Bucky to crouch down. The effect of that didn't last long, however, because from his crouched poisition, Bucky shot his hand out, intending to punch Tony — or maybe shoot him. Andi couldn't be sure because she only noticed the gun in Bucky's hand when Tony ducked out of the way to avoid being hit.

Tony managed to stand up after pushing his hand out of the way, but Bucky was quick — if not faster than Tony — and he had the gun pointed toward him yet again. The shot was quickly stifled when Tony raised his hand and placed his gloved hand over the front of the gun, minimising the blow almost completely. Andi didn't realise she'd been holding her breath until then, because she eventually found it hard to breathe. Twice in a row, Bucky had the chance to cause some serious damage with a gun, but Tony had managed to escape it. It was making Andi nervous. No wonder he hadn't wanted her to follow.

She watched as the fight continued and Tony managed to take off part of the gun, using it to hit Bucky across the face. Bucky's response was to toss Tony into a nearby table, where he crashed to the floor.

 _Okay, this is it_. Andi figured this was a good a time as any, to step in, or something bad could happen to Tony.

Before she could step in, however, the blonde from earlier jumped into action, taking the heat off of Tony for the time being. She got a few kicks in before Natasha jumped in as well, and the two women did a good job in trying to subdue Bucky — till he took out the blonde by flipping her onto a table and then turning his focus onto Nat, who leaped onto his shoulders to get a better hold of him.

She was doing her best to knock him out, but it didn't seem to be working. Vaguely, Andi wondered how three strong individuals had hardly been able to tire the guy out. But, as Andi watched Bucky hold Nat down with his hands around her neck, she realised that he had a metal arm. _Metal_.

Seeing her chance, Andi acted without thinking, because she couldn't let anything happen to Nat. She shot her hands out and an invisible force pushed Bucky's metal hand away from around Natasha's neck, which caught him off guard. Now she was completely exposed to him, and nobody was standing in his way. Not to mention she'd probably pissed him off a little more with that stunt.

Andi watched as he made his way toward her, and she tried to remember her lessons with Natasha. When the first punch came, Andi anticipated it, and she ducked, using his momentary imbalance to punch out and push him back. It only made him stagger a little while she stood back up again, and almost as soon as she did, he had his other fist flying toward her.

This move, Andi didn't anticipate, and his fist collided with her shoulder, sending her onto the floor and skidding back a few feet.

Getting hit _hurt_. Especially by Bucky, who clearly was more enhanced than she realised.

Andi had just about managed to look up when she realised that Bucky was already standing over her, metal arm ready to be thrown toward her once more. This time though, she was ready. Well, not so much ready as she was at an advantage because of her powers and their association with metal objects. She wouldn't have been able to avoid the hit otherwise, but because of her abilities, when his fist nearly reached her and she held her hand out in front of it, she was able to stop the blow. Instead, his hand jerked to a stop in midair, just a few inches away from her palm.

Andi watched as Bucky looked at his own hand in mild bewilderment, before he tried to push harder, to break through whatever hold she had on it. It was admittedly becoming harder for her to hold his hand back, and she was trying to think of what else she could do, when Bucky was suddenly thrown off of her.

Sitting up, Andi watched as Bucky now battled someone else — T'Challa. The man threw a few punches while getting some in return, and they ultimately crashed down a set of stairs.

Andi quickly got to her feet to run over, and as she stood at the top of the stairs, she watched T'Challa kick Bucky over the railing. The long haired man fell over the side and Andi rushed down to stand beside T'Challa as he looked down, only to find that Bucky was gone.

* * *

Not very long after the impromptu battle, they'd all regrouped back in the room they'd been in when all hell broke loose. Well, everyone except Steve and Sam. At the moment, their whereabouts were unknown, along with Bucky and the guy who'd done his evaluation.

Secretary Ross had arrived not long after, and he didn't look happy one bit. Not that Andi cared, because she didn't particularly like the guy. She just watched, from her seat in one of the conference rooms, as Ross conversed with Nat and Tony.

"I don't suppose you have any idea where they are?" he asked.

"We will," Tony assured him. He was standing behind Andi's chair but his gaze was on the glass wall instead of on Ross. He had some blood on his shirt, and the small wound on the side of his head had yet to be patched up. "GSG 9's got the borders covered. Recon's flying 24/7. They'll get a hit. We'll handle it."

"You don't get it, Stark," Ross said, now that Tony was finally facing him. "It's not yours to handle. It's clear you can't be objective. I'm putting Special Ops on this."

Andi didn't understand most of what was being said, but she continued listening, regardless.

Nat didn't seem to like what she was hearing and she looked up at Ross with furrowed eyebrows. "What happens when the shooting starts?" She asked. "Do you kill Steve Rogers?"

Andi froze. She never thought it was going to get _this_ bad. But she supposed she should have seen it coming. Steve hadn't signed off on the Accords, he was involved with Bucky who made a scene twice in the past day, and was also a known fugitive, apparently. Andi didn't know the full story but she still didn't think Steve warranted some kind of punishment for any of it.

"If we're provoked," Secretary Ross confirmed with a small shrug, like killing Steve meant nothing to him. "Barnes would've been eliminated in Romania if it wasn't for Rogers. There are dead people who would be alive now."

"All due respect," Tony said as he moved around Andi to sit down at the head of the table, "you're not going to solve this with boys and bullets, Ross. You've got to let us bring them in."

"How would that end any differently than last time?"

"Because this time I won't be wearing loafers and a silk shirt." Tony sounded angry, but also determined. He was trying his best to keep the team from falling apart, but with each hour that passed, things only seemed to be getting worse. "72 hours. Guaranteed."

Ross seemed to consider this before he replied. "36 hours. Barnes. And Rogers. And Wilson." And with just a nod for confirmation from Tony's end, Ross exited the room and headed off somewhere else.

Silence remained in the room for a few moments before Nat finally spoke up, directing her words to Andi. "You doing okay?" she asked. "You kind of saved me back there," she smiled. "Didn't know your powers applied to Vibranium too. We should have considered that while you were training."

Andi nodded once before shrugging. "I remembered messing around with Steve's shield back at the base one time," she explained.

"How come you didn't come to my rescue?" Tony asked as he leaned back in his chair.

Andi managed a small smile before she shrugged yet again. "It was fun to watch," she teased.

Tony's lips twitched upward in a smile as well just as he let out a sigh. "My left arm feels numb. Is that normal?"

Natasha smiled and got up to go stand beside him while looking out through the glass behind him. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Tony nodded. "Always."

Natasha crossed her arms and stared at the screens on the far wall. "We are _seriously_ understaffed right now."

Andi cleared her throat, to make it clear that she was present for whatever help they needed.

"Don't worry. I've learned my lesson about trying to keep you away from things," Tony muttered. "It's not enough though," Tony let out a humourless chuckle. "It'd be great if we had a Hulk right about now. Any shot?" He looked up at Nat.

Andi almost forgot there were other options. She hadn't seen Bruce since Sokovia since he kind of disappeared. None of them knew where he was.

"Do you really think he'd be on our side?" Nat asked as she looked down at Tony.

Tony pursed his lips and paused for a moment, as though deep in thought. "No," he admitted.

"I have an idea," Natasha perked up after a moment, her expression shifting in a more serious one.

Tony looked at her, and then at Andi, and he smiled. Andi wasn't sure why he was smiling that way, or why he was looking at her that way, so she just stared back in confusion while he responded. "I have an idea too. Where's yours?" He asked Nat.

"Downstairs," she replied before furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "Where's yours?"

Tony winked at Andi — further confusing her — before replying. "Queens." 


	11. finally meeting the spider-ling

The entire trip back to New York, Tony failed to explain to Andi what his plan was. He only said that she would play a minor role in making it all happen, and that just confused her more. Nevertheless, she went along with him when they landed, hopping into his car that was waiting for him right outside. 

Andi didn't ride around in any of Tony's cars much because it was important to keep her identity intact. People from school couldn't start asking questions about how she knew Tony Stark, aka, Iron Man, when nobody was supposed to know about her powers yet. She almost blew her cover in Lagos, but none of the footage picked up on her face, fortunately.

"Alright, so just play along with whatever I say, okay?" Tony told Andi as they pulled up outside the building. It looked vaguely familiar, but that could be because a lot of buildings in the city looked the same.

"That would be a lot easier if you told me where we are," Andi murmured in passing as she got out of the car and followed Tony into the building and up a few flights of stairs. They came to a door and Tony rang the bell. The door opened to reveal a slightly older woman on the other side. Maybe she was Tony's age, Andi couldn't really tell, but she looked very pretty.

Tony seemed to think so too, but he quickly overcame the initial shock. "Hi," he said, with an award winning smile. "May Parker, right?"

 _Parker? As in related to Peter?_ Andi was even more confused, but for the time being she just did what Tony said to — she played along, keeping a smile on her face to match Tony's false enthusiasm.

"Yes," the woman said with a vibrant smile. She clearly knew who she was talking to. "Gosh, Tony Stark. I — What can I do for you?"

"I'm here to talk to Peter," Tony explained, nudging Andi, who nodded in agreement. "We're going to be working together, looks like it. He applied for a grant and I wanted to visit him in person to let him know that he's the second lucky student who got it."

May Parker seemed thrilled. "Really? He didn't even say anything to me," she moved out of the way, allowing Tony and Andi to step inside. "Are you the other winner, sweetie?"

"Hmm?" Andi turned around after stepping inside to face the woman and she nodded hastily. "Oh, yeah. I am."

"They're both classmates," Tony explained. "I only found out after meeting this young girl, and she just _begged_ to see the look on Peter's face once he realised he got the grant."

Andi bit down on her lip. None of this was making any sense, and she didn't particularly enjoy the way Tony put the picture across, but she just smiled and nodded nonetheless, agreeing with whatever he said.

"Please, sit down," May insisted. "I'll get some juice and snacks for you both."

Tony sat down on the couch and Andi sat on the armchair beside it. Both of them watched May disappear into the kitchen before they looked at each other and Andi spoke in a whisper.

"What are we doing at Peter's house?" she asked him. "Is this some stupid parenting thing or something? Because now's not really the time to—"

Andi stopped when Tony shushed her because May came back into the living room with a plate of what looked like... cake? Andi couldn't tell.

"I just made a walnut date loaf today so you guys can be the first to try it," she explained with a grin as she set the plate down on the coffee table as well as two glasses of what Andi assumed was orange juice.

"Thank you," she said to the older woman with a polite smile while reaching out for her glass. She was just taking a sip when May and Tony dived back into conversation. They talked about the made-up grant for a few minutes, only stopping when the door to the apartment opened.

Andi looked up to see Peter walking into the room. He had his earphones in so he didn't really look in their direction. He just tossed his bag onto the dining table and walked directly into the kitchen.

"How was school today?" May called out, turning around and resting her arm on the sofa to look back. Tony shifted in his position as well, to see Peter better, but Andi had a perfect view from where she sat, without needing to shift too much in her seat.

"It was okay," Peter replied, moving around in the kitchen. "Kind of weird, really. I was supposed to meet Andi after class but she didn't show up all day. There's also this crazy car parked outside..." Peter faltered when he walked into the living room from the kitchen with a glass of water and noticed who was sitting in his living room.

At first, his gaze remained on Tony, which Andi understood. It wasn't everyday you come home to see Tony Stark sitting in your living room. But then he spotted Andi and his eyes widened a little more.

"Hi, Mr. Parker," Tony said, a smile on his face.

Peter set his glass of water down to take out his earphones, though his movement was sluggish, like he was still processing what he was seeing. Andi didn't blame him. She didn't exactly know what was going on here either.

"What are you doing..." He looked between Andi and Tony. "Uh, hey. I'm Peter."

Tony nodded. "I know," he kept the smile up. "It's about time we met. You've been getting my emails, right?"

Andi furrowed her eyebrows. She noticed Peter's confused expression as well, which told her that there _were_ no emails, but he got the hint to play along. "Yeah, yeah," he nodded. "Regarding the..."

Luckily for him, May hopped in to fill him in since she believed this was all legitimate. "You didn't even tell me about the grant."

"The grant," Peter nodded. "Right. This is regarding that."

"The September Foundation," Tony chimed in. "Remember when you applied? Well, I approved, so now we're in business." He picked up his glass of juice and sipped from it nonchalantly, like nothing was out of the ordinary about this whole situation. He should have considered an acting career.

"What, uh... what did I apply for?" Peter asked, fiddling with his fingers and looking between Tony and Andi.

"That's what I'm here to hash out," Tony explained.

"Okay," Peter nodded as though he understood. "Hash it out, okay."

"Yeah, it's so exciting," May said with a grin. "You and this young lady here were the only ones approved. I mean, this is a huge deal!"

Peter looked to Andi. "So, Andi... and I... this grant—"

"Wait," May interrupted. "This is Andi? _The_ Andi you keep talking about?"

Andi's cheeks felt like they were on fire and she averted her gaze quickly while Peter suddenly jumped in. " _Aunt May_ ," he said through clenched teeth.

"What?" May shrugged. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry." She turned and looked to Tony with an expression that Andi read as her trying to say, _teenage boys, am I right?_

"So, anyway," Tony cleared his throat and tried to change the subject. "Can we have five minutes with him to just hash things out?"

May nodded. "Sure. I'll pack some of the loaf for you to take," she smiled at Tony and went into the kitchen while Tony got up and beckoned for Andi to follow him. She got up from the armchair and trailed along behind him as the three of them went into Peter's room.

Once the door was shut, Tony and Andi turned around to face Peter, who still looked about as confused as Andi felt.

"So," Peter said, looking to Tony. "I definitely did not apply for your grant, and—"

Tony interrupted him. "Ah-Ah! Me first."

Peter stifled whatever he'd been about to say. "O-okay."

"Quick question of the rhetorical variety," Tony said as he brought out his phone and pressed a few buttons. One tap made a hologram appear, and it showed footage of something Andi didn't recognise at first till she focused on it a little longer. It was Spider-Man, swinging through the streets, only to stop a truck from colliding with a car. "That's you, right?"

Andi... was speechless, to say the least. The screen froze on Spider-Man's face, and she only saw the person that came to her aid at the deli two days ago. She would _never_ have thought that the guy behind the mask was... Peter.

Peter stared at the footage and began to shake his head. "Um, no," he said, crossing his arms and shifting from foot to foot — something Andi noticed he did when he was trying to hide something or lie. "W-what do you mean?"

"Yeah, look at you go," Tony said as the footage shifted to another incident where Spider-Man saved the day. "That's not easy. You got mad skills."

Peter looked at Andi and then back at Tony before he walked over to where his desk was. "That's all on YouTube, though, right?" he said with a nervous chuckle. "That's where you found that? Because you know that's all fake. It's all done on the computer."

The more he tried to defend himself, the more sure Andi was that this was true. Peter Parker was Spider-Man.

As Peter continued to deny the claims, Tony walked around the room. He picked up what looked like a cane and looked toward the ceiling. Andi followed his gaze only to see something red falling out when Tony pushed an opening in the ceiling. "Oh," Tony said. "What have we here?"

Peter sprinted to grab what had fallen and he tossed it into his closet before standing in front of it, as though he could try to hide the fact that they'd all already seen what it was. It was his suit.

"Uh..." Peter clearly was running out of things to say.

Tony smirked and faced him. "You're the Spider-ling," he said. "Crime-fighting spider. You're Spider-Boy?"

Almost at the same time, Andi and Peter both corrected Tony. "Spider-Man."

Tony glanced to Andi for a moment before looking back to Peter. "Not in that onesie you're not," he said, nodding to the suit that peeked out a little from the closet floor.

"It's not a onesie," Peter argued, his face a little red, as he walked back to his desk.

Tony took the opportunity to lift the costume from inside the closet and he turned the material over in his hands. "Does anybody else know?"

Peter glanced at him from over his shoulder and shook his head. "No. Nobody. Except the two of you now."

Andi remained standing by the door while Tony and Peter talked about the specifics — how he became like this, and how he made his own webbing. Andi didn't know yet if she could even contribute to the conversation because what would she say? This was her best friend. The boy she had a crush on. And she was now learning that he had powers, like she did? Well, different ones of course, but it still put them on the same wavelength. It was all... overwhelming. How was it that Tony had known this whole time and never thought to tell her?

"Hate to break it to you," Tony said, tossing the suit back toward Peter, who stashed it in his closet. "But you're in dire need of an upgrade. Systemic, top to bottom restoration. That's why I'm here."

Peter walked over to his bed and he sat down, his gaze shifting to Andi. "Why are you here?" He asked her curiously. "Why didn't you show up to class today?"

Andi bit down on her lower lip. "It's a long story," she told him. "But—"

"Basically, she's like you," Tony interjected. "She's a teen with abilities, in desperate need of guidance. That's where I come into the picture."

"Wait," Peter continued staring at Andi. "You— _You_ have powers?" His expression suddenly shifted, as though something just dawned on him. "It was you. Back in the deli, when the gun flew out of that guy's hand out of nowhere. You did that, didn't you?"

"Well he was aiming his gun at Spider-Man— I mean, at you, and I didn't know all the things you were capable of," Andi defended herself. "I couldn't just—"

"As much as I enjoy a lover's quarrel," Tony interrupted. "We have more important things to attend to." He focused on Peter. "Tell me, why do you do this?" He asked him, leaning back in his seat. "I have to know, what's your MO. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?"

Peter stayed silent for a moment before he began to answer. "I've had these powers for six months," he said softly. "When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and _then_ the bad things happen... they happen because of you."

Tony looked at him for a moment. "So you want to look out for the little guy, you want to do your part? Make the world a better place, all that, right?"

"Yeah," Peter nodded. "Just looking out for the little guy."

Tony nodded. "That's exactly what Andi told me almost a year ago," he said, nodding in Andi's direction. "And it's a bit of work with you young people, but she's getting there."

Andi looked at Tony and managed a small smile, which he returned before he looked back at Peter. "And I think you could too, with a little guidance." He rose to his feet and walked to stand by Andi, at the door. "Do you have a passport?"

Peter let out a small chuckle. "No. No, I don't even have my driver's license."

"You ever been to Germany?"

"No," Peter shook his head. "No, Mr. Stark, I can't go to Germany."

"Why not?" Tony arched an eyebrow.

"Because..." Peter faltered and then spoke softly. "I have homework."

Andi smiled a little wider upon hearing that and Tony just stayed silent for a moment, processing what he'd just heard, before he spoke. "Okay, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." Tony moved to place his hand on the doorknob in an attempt to leave the room. "Better tell Aunt Hottie that I'm taking you on a field trip."

Peter stood up and shot one hand out. From his wrist, Andi saw webbing fly out toward Tony's hand and in the next second, his hand was stuck to the knob because of it.

"Please don't tell Aunt May," Peter said, looking a little nervous about the idea of his aunt finding out about his alter ego.

"All right, Spider-Man," Tony nodded. They all seemed to come to some sort of verbal agreement, and it was clear to Andi now that Peter was being 'recruited' to help out with the big situation at hand. She still had so much she wanted to say, and she had a feeling he had many questions too, but she didn't want to say anything with Tony present.

For a while, the silence remained, and everyone just stared at one another, probably still processing this whole thing, till Tony broke the silence while gesturing to his hand still stuck in the webbing. "Now get me out of this thing."


	12. say hello to my new suit

The flight to Germany was kind of silent.

Well, save for Tony talking to various people over the phone. It was probably because of that — and the importance of those calls — that Andi chose to stay quiet for the duration of the flight.

And it was also because she was nervous. And anxious. And worried. There was a lot going through her mind about the whole situation with Steve and Bucky and the Avengers in general, and it didn't help that she was now sitting two feet away from the guy she'd had a crush on for the past year who _also_ happened to be the masked vigilante that came to her rescue not that long ago.

How paradoxical was it to have a crush on a guy who's alter ego was related to a spider — one of the few things she _hated_?

In any case, that largely contributed to her silence as well because she wasn't sure what he was thinking, and she didn't really know what to say. Whether Peter was thinking the same thing or not was unknown to her, but he had chosen to stay silent as well, for most of the flight. It was only when they began to feel some slight turbulence that he got up from his seat.

He'd been up at front, facing Happy, while Andi stayed right at the back, looking out at the window. All she could see were clouds, so it wasn't much of a view, but it was still nice to look at. When he began walking in her direction though, the view outside the plane hardly mattered.

Some turbulence threw off his balance a little and he stumbled forward, grasping the top of another seat for support. He gave her a half smile before making the rest of the trip much quicker and finally taking the seat in front so he could face her.

"Hey," Peter greeted her, and she shifted in her seat a little nervously. "So this is pretty crazy, right?"

Andi managed a small smile. "Crazy isn't exactly the word I'd use but yeah," she nodded.

Peter pursed his lips. "So you probably have loads of questions."

"And you probably do too," Andi countered. They'd both discovered things about one another that they _never_ would have expected. At least, Andi never would have guessed that Peter was Spider-Man. Whether he had his suspicions about her or not wasn't something she had a clue about yet.

"Are you mad at me?" He asked next, which honestly surprised her.

"Mad at you?" She echoed. "Why would I be mad at you? You have this important secret weighing down on you. I understand not wanting to tell anyone. Besides, you weren't the only one keeping a secret."

Andi definitely had several moments when she wanted to confide in Peter about her abilities, but she'd decided against it because she had no idea what that would do to their dynamic. And she didn't want that to change.

Peter had a look that Andi assumed was relief, and it made her smile a little wider. "So," she spoke again, clearing her throat. "Does Ned know?"

Peter shook his head. "Nobody knows. Nobody was supposed to find out, but somehow Mr. Stark did," he said, glancing back at Tony who was still in deep conversation with someone over the phone.

Andi doubted Tony would have even had much trouble trying to find him. What bothered her was they he _knew_ and never told her. She didn't know how long he knew, of course, but he still found out at some point and thought that it mattered if he took her along in the hopes that it would help his cause.

"This is about to become a bloodbath, isn't it?" Peter said after a short moment of silence between the two of them.

Andi chewed her lower lip and nodded. "Yeah." She didn't want it to be that way since she was pretty much standing against one half of the only family she's ever had and she was still pretty confused about where she _really_ stood.

But Peter was right. It was _definitely_ going to be a bloodbath. Andi didn't look forward to what would happen as a result.

* * *

The plane had landed soon enough. Andi had continued talking to Peter for the duration of the flight. It wasn't as awkward as it had been back at his house when they'd both experienced huge revelations about each other, but things were still a little tense because she wasn't sure how things would go when they headed back home after all of this.

Andi also worried about whether she'd _have_ a home to go back to after all of this, given how everyone was divided.

For now, she was meant to gear up for battle. Tony took off almost as soon as they landed, with not much explanation as to where he was going. Happy was in charge of getting Peter and Andi to a hotel, where they were each given a room.

Andi went straight to hers only to find a black box set on top of her bed. She walked over to it curiously and lifted the lid to find a note inside. What was underneath the note looked familiar, but she chose to read the small piece of paper before she investigated further.

> _Congratulations. You're in the big leagues now.  
> _ _—_ _Tony_

Andi smiled a little and set the paper aside before lifting the dark, khaki coloured suit from inside the box. It wasn't a full outfit like before. This was more like a hooded coat. It was light and it fit her perfectly. Surprisingly, it allowed for easy movement too, which Andi tested out by trying to sprint across her room and nearly dashing into Happy when he came in to check on her. 

The shoulders had small compartments to store seeds, like her old suit, and it was already filled. The coat was also fire resistant — another test of a lesser known power. Perhaps it was a bold move to hold her hand against the fabric while she had bright blue flames along the tips of her fingers, but it worked out in her favour since the coat wasn't eaten away by the fire.

She was surprised, and impressed, by how much the suit had been catered to her, specifically. She herself wasn't aware of all the things she was capable of doing, or what it all meant. Her powers didn't always compliment each other either — she could break down the structure of buildings and cause fissures in the ground, but she could also create plant life and an odd coloured fire.

There were many questions she wanted answers to, but she wasn't anywhere close to answering them. Part of her kept thinking back to that one moment when she thought she'd been dead, shortly after defeating Ultron. The hooded figure she met seemed to be sure about when he'd see her again. Maybe he knew more about what she was capable of too, and how she was capable of it all.

Andi made a mental note to dive back into that investigation once all this was said and done.

She just hoped that when this was all over, there'd still be a family to fall back on, but at the moment, the situation looked grim, and Andi could feel her optimism slowly fading. 


	13. this is going to end well

Andi had never been so far away from home but she always thought that if she were to travel outside the country willingly, it would be for leisure. Not to fight the people she considered to be her family.

The 'battlefield' where it was all meant to take place was the airport. It was a good choice, if Andi thought about it, but she knew it hadn't been chosen specifically for them to hash things out. Steve needed access to a jet and this was the closest place he could get one. It just happened to in a large area so if things went to hell — which she had no doubt they would — at least this time no civilians would be hurt as a result.

Andi had stayed on the sidelines with Peter, just as Tony instructed. He made his presence known to Steve first, deactivating the chopper he'd been running to and putting a stop to his plan. Andi knew Steve though. She knew that it didn't just end here. There was a reason he was standing there alone right now.

Rhodey flanked Tony and they came to a stop beside each other, facing Steve. Andi couldn't hear much of what they were saying, but she knew someone who would pick up on it easier than she could.

"Can you hear?" She asked Peter as she peered around his taller frame.

He nodded and then spoke without looking back. "He said the doctor's behind all of this. The psychiatrist?"

Andi remembered him. The guy who'd been speaking to Bucky before he went into rage mode and almost killed half of the Avengers singlehandedly.

"He seems sure that we're going after the wrong guy. Apparently there are more like him," Peter explained, now turning to face her. "More Super Soldiers."

So that's what this was all about. That's why Steve needed a jet. Not to protect his old friend, but to put an end to what had turned him into the soldier in the first place.

If Andi had doubting her decision before, it was nowhere close to how uncomfortable she felt now, not knowing where exactly she stood.

Nat came into the picture too, and it wasn't long after that that they were given their cue.

_"Underoos!"_

"That's us," Peter murmured turning away from her and pulling his mask down to cover his face. In a matter of seconds, Peter was gone from her side. He was up in the air for a moment, almost soaring through, before he used his webbing to grab Steve's shield and bind his hands. He landed on top of the chopper surprisingly gracefully and looked around.

"Nice job, kid," Tony called out, though he looked straight at Steve.

"Thanks," Peter sounded pleased, and Andi took the opportunity to slowly come out of her hiding place, so she stood behind Steve. He hadn't noticed yet. "Well, I mean, I could have stuck the landing better, it's just... a new suit, y'know?"

Tony tried to silence him. "Yeah—"

"It's nothing Mr. Stark," Peter continued, making Andi smile just a little. "The suit is great. It's perfect. Thank you."

"We don't really need to start a conversation," Tony finally got a word in and Peter nodded.

"Okay," he said, glancing around again. "Hey everybody," Peter looked directly at Steve and did a small salute. "Captain. Big fan. I—I'm Spider-Man."

"Yeah, We'll talk about it later," Tony's patience was definitely running low.

With one more nod, Peter finally shut up. That was when Steve turned around. He probably guessed she would have come. He knew her well enough. He knew she wouldn't be willing to stay behind with all of this going on.

"Andi," he spoke, addressing her in a kind of greeting.

Andi wasn't sure how to respond, so she didn't. She just stood there, looking at him, with her lips pursed. He was smiling, as though he didn't blame her for coming here more or less as his enemy in this situation. It made her feel unsettled. He should be angry at her, shouldn't he? Or feel betrayed, at least? She knew that's what she would have felt.

Hell, it's what she felt right now since she wasn't so sure she was on the right side in all of this.

Steve turned back to Tony. "You've been busy."

"And you've been a complete idiot," he countered. "Bringing Clint out of retirement. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave."

 _Wanda_? What happened to Wanda? Andi last saw her back at the base, and she had assumed that that was where she remained. She remembered feeling anger toward Tony for keeping her locked up, as though she were a wild animal. She completely forgot to address it after everything went down with Peter. How could she have been so ignorant? Wanda was like a sister to her, the one person she knew longer than anyone.

"I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart," Tony said finally.

Steve let out a small sigh. "You did that when you signed."

"Okay, I'm done. You're going to come with us _now_ ," Tony's voice was raised, and Andi could hear the frustration in his tone. "You're going to turn Barnes over and come with us because it's _us_. Come on." The last few words had been softer, and Andi stared right at him as he said it. He was more or less pleading, because Tony didn't want this to go sideways.

But Steve wasn't willing to give up his mission.

Instead of answering, he raised his fists in the air, and an arrow shot out from nowhere, ripping through the webbing and freeing Steve's hands.

At the same exact moment, Andi watched as Peter was tossed back off the chopper. Someone else took his place, someone who appeared out of nowhere, till Andi realised he _grew_ from out of nowhere. Picking up Steve's shield, he handed it over to its rightful owner. "I believe this is yours, Captain America."

Rhodey was confused, just like most of them. "W-What the hell was that?"

"Great," Tony muttered before activating the helmet of his suit so it now covered his face. "Alright kid, do what we discussed. Keep your distance, web stuff up," he glanced to Andi. "Wanda and Clint are near the parking deck so you're coming with me," he said, flying over to her and reaching out for her hand. As she took it, she heard his voice again. "Rhodey, you want to take Cap?"

Without waiting for a reply, Tony sped up, carrying Andi below. The hood of her coat flew off because of the wind, but she was soon set down on the ground just a few feet away from Wanda and Clint, who were running out of the parking structure.

Without warning, Tony fired small missiles toward the nearby cars, attempting to try and block their path. They were forced to come to a stop, and hovered in the air above Andi, both of them facing the other two.

"Wanda," he spoke. "I think you hurt Vision's feelings."

She didn't find that very amusing. "You locked me in my room."

"Okay first," Tony began to defend himself. "That's an exaggeration. And second, I did that to protect you."

She tilted her head to the side in disbelief. Andi could more or less read her expression. _Are you kidding me?_

She then looked at Andi. "Is that what you believe?"

Andi never thought she'd find herself facing up against Wanda again, after Sokovia, yet here she was. And she didn't have an answer. "I—"

"Hey Clint," Tony interrupted.

"Hey man."

"Clearly retirement doesn't suit you," Tony commented, hand outstretched in a defensive stance. Clint had his bow raised as well, arrow ready to go. "Got tired of shooting golf?"

Clint shrugged. "Well, I played 18, shot 18. Just can't seem to miss." As he said this, he fired an arrow.

Andi was caught off guard, but it had been aimed at Tony. He swerved out of the way and shot the arrow out of the sky before turning back to Clint. "First time for everything."

Clint smirked. "Made you look."

Tony and Andi both looked up at the same time to see cars being pulled out of their parking slots. The familiar red wisps of energy told Andi that Wanda was doing this so she didn't bother to double check if that was true. Instead, she tried moving out of the way or she'd likely be crushed.

Tony flew over her in an attempt to avoid being hit while also making sure she didn't get hit, but one caught him off guard and pinned him down to the ground.

Finally deciding to act, Andi lifted her hands to the sky and concentrated, and the cars seemed to slow to a stop, merely hovering in mid air for a second. Wanda and Clint had used the distraction to get away, so for now, Andi did her best to settle the cars as slowly as possible, while freeing Tony from underneath the wreckage too. It was already taking a bit of a toll on her, but she persevered.

"You alright?" Andi looked up to see that Tony's helmet was off for the time being. He looked her over and she nodded in response.

"I'm fine. They got away," Andi informed him, glancing in the direction that they'd gone. Without saying anything else, Tony held a hand out again and she took it, instantly feeling herself being lifted off the ground. As they flew toward the center of the field, she noticed Vision floating in mid air. Steve had regrouped with the others — and it made her wonder where Peter was — but Vision was stopping them by drawing a line in the ground with a laser.

"Captain Rogers," he said, his voice resonating throughout the area. "I know you believe what you are doing is right. But for the collective good, you must surrender now."

At that point, Tony set her down on the ground beside Nat and he stood on the ground as well. Andi looked on both sides for Peter and just when she felt the panic beginning to set in, she spotted him swinging in. He landed on her other side and looked at her. She somehow felt he was smiling at her underneath the mask but she couldn't be too sure.

Steve began to walk forward, and Andi knew there was going to be no surrender of any kind. She felt like throwing up, but she forced herself to follow when Tony and Nat began to walk forward as well.

"This is going to end well," Nat murmured.

Steve picked up the pace, and the others followed his lead. Tony did the same.

"Uh, they're not stopping," Peter called out, breaking into a jog as well.

"Neither are we," Tony's voice came as his helmet came back on.

The jogging shifted to running for most of them, and Rhodey and Tony took to the skies just as Sam and Wanda did from the other end.

The moment Andi saw Tony's iron fist colliding with Steve's shield, she knew there might not be a way for any of them to go back from this. 


	14. the battle must go on

Andi wasn't sure where to go. Arrows flew overhead, targeted at someone who was flying, she wasn't sure who, and the sound of metal against metal filled her ears from all sides. For the moment she focused on what Wanda was doing, which was flinging nearby cars and other small airport vehicles in Peter's direction as he swung around on a web to avoid it.

Andi stepped in, using her powers over metal to try and get in the way and keep the things away from Peter but it only worked if the objects were made of metal. They managed for a while, and then Peter got out of the way for good when he went after Steve, who was running ahead. He'd somehow gotten away from Tony, and instead of looking back to see what happened to him, she followed behind Peter since both Clint and Wanda were occupied by Nat now.

Steve anticipated Peter's arrival because he turned around and threw is shield. It sliced right through the webbing, causing Peter to fall, and right when the shield was about to return to Steve, Andi intervened, holding her arms out and willing the shield to come to her instead.

It did so with such force that she was thrown off balance a little, and had to take a few steps back, but she held the shield firmly in her hands while looking at Steve.

"That thing does not obey the law of physics _at all_ ," Peter muttered, rising to his feet after recovering from falling down.

"Look," Steve said, looking between both Andi and Peter. "There's a lot going on here that you don't understand."

"Mr. Stark said you'd say that," Peter replied before throwing his arm forward and letting a web shoot toward Steve. He got him by the legs, and began to pull, throwing Steve onto his back so he was dragged forward. Once he was close enough, Peter used his hold on him to kick forward, sending Steve flying back into a nearby aerobridge.

Andi didn't particularly enjoy going up against Steve — or anyone here since almost all of them had been considered her family at one point — but she was still confused.

As Steve got to his feet, Peter intervened yet again, but this time, Steve was prepared. When the webs shot out to grab his arms, he used it against Peter and turned around, so Peter was dragged forward instead. Steve swiftly kicked him aside as if it was nothing, and this time it was Peter who slammed against bottom of the aerobridge.

"What else did Stark say about me?" Steve asked, looking at Peter.

"That you're wrong," Peter mumbled, slowly getting to his feet. "You think you're right. And that makes you dangerous."

Steve considered this with a small shrug. "Guess he had a point," he murmured, running forward and kicking the the structure that held the bridge up. In one move, it gave away, and the bridge fell down on Peter.

Andi reached forward instinctively, but Peter managed to hold up the weight of it before it crushed him. He was too occupied to fight back now though, so Steve turned on her.

"Andi," he regarded her.

"Steve," she replied, gripping the shield tight.

"You know that there's something bigger at play here," he told her. "This isn't about the Accords anymore, or even me trying to protect Bucky."

Andi knew Steve wouldn't lie about something like that, and he wouldn't have Wanda and Clint and Sam helping him if it wasn't for something bigger. But they were still going up against the law.

"Maybe you can talk it out with Tony," Andi reasoned, even if she knew that was impossible at this point. "If this is as big as you say it is then you'll need all the help you can get, and—"

"You know that isn't going to happen, Andi," he said, walking toward her, though moving slowly. "We need to do this. And I can't let anyone stop us."

If it came down to a fight, then Andi would participate. But she didn't want it to come down to that. She couldn't bring herself to fight her mentor. She didn't even know how good she'd be at it. She may have learned from him, but he was still stronger, more experienced. The only advantage she had was that she held his shield, but it's not like she could do anything with it.

"Then I won't stop you," Andi said softly, having made up her mind. Not because she didn't want to fight Steve, but because she didn't want to fight _anyone_. And she believed that something more important was at play here. All the fighting was only going to make things worse.

After a moment of hesitation, she held out her hand, so Steve could take his shield. She could tell he was a little surprised, based on his expression, but he wasted no time taking the shield from her and attaching it to his arm.

"Stay out of trouble," he told her before turning to look at a still struggling Peter. "You've got heart, kid." Andi saw him smile as he said that, but almost immediately after, he took off.

Andi turned to Peter and tried to help by using her powers. She was growing increasingly tired, but determination kept her active. She was able to hold up the aerobridge long enough for him to slide out from underneath it. He rolled to a stop in front of her and got to his feet.

"You okay?" He asked. She knew he wasn't talking about physical injuries, but rather about what just went down.

Andi nodded, which prompted him to ask another question. "Are you sure about what you just did?" He definitely sounded worried. "I mean, Mr. Stark said—"

"I know what he said," she cut him off. "But I also know Steve. This isn't just a fight about a stupid set of rules anymore. I need to get Tony to see that." And in explaining it to Peter, she wondered if he would believe her, or think differently of her now.

A moment of silence passed between them. Andi couldn't even tell what he was thinking because he had his mask on, but then he spoke. "Okay," Peter nodded slowly. "If you think that's the right thing to do then... then I trust you."

Feeling relief flood her, Andi straightened her posture. "Then we need to find Tony," she said. Maybe there was still some time to try and fix this before it got worse.

"Hey lovebirds," Tony's voice came from above and they both looked up to see him hovering in the air. Perfect. Andi was about to say something to him when he spoke again. "We've got a situation."

Tony flew off before Andi could even understand what he was talking about. She and Peter both followed his movement for a few feet till they saw what Tony mentioned.

"What the hell?" Peter muttered as he stared.

Andi more or less felt the same. The man that had once grown into full size from being tiny had now taken things to the next level, because he was a giant. All the focus was on him, which meant that Steve had some time to get away. It was a good diversion, since Tony and Rhodey were already occupied with trying to take him down.

As much as Andi wanted Steve to leave, she also couldn't leave Tony to battle this on his own. Besides, trying to take him down was definitely going to take up some chunk of their time anyway, so she gestured for Peter to follow. "Come on."

She had no idea how they were going to do this, but this entire day had been crazy to begin with. What's one more ridiculous event added to that list? 


	15. a whole lot of guilt

Andi and Peter both rushed forward to try and help. Tony was busy trying to distract the big guy since he had latched onto Rhodey's leg and wasn't letting him fly away.

"Give me back my Rhodey," Andi could hear Tony yelling as they got closer. This was certainly different from anything she'd come across before but she supposed there was a first time for everything.

"What do we do?" Andi asked aloud, hoping _someone_ would answer her. Before anyone could, Rhodey was thrown away and Peter sprung into action.

"I've got him!" He shot a web out that stuck to Rhodey's suit. Since he was still going at full speed, Peter was pulled along with him. He managed to stop them both before any real damage was done by kicking his feet against a nearby truck and pulling Rhodey back.

Each time Tony tried to get in the way of going for the giant man, Sam interrupted, throwing him off and effectively keeping him occupied.

Peter continued his ridealong with Rhodey, hanging on a web and kicking the big guy every time they flew close. In the distance, Andi spotted Steve and Bucky running toward a hangar where she could see a jet was parked. _Good_. That meant that the only thing left to do was battle the giant.

Andi turned, trying to think of a tactic. She didn't have to though, because Peter came up with one. "Hey guys, you ever see that really old movie, _Empire Strikes Back?_ " Andi was familiar with it since she watched it with Steve.

"Jesus, Tony," Rhodey's voice came in. "How old is this guy?"

"I didn't carbon date him," came the reply. "Him and Andi are on the young side."

Peter continued, taking pauses in between as he swung around the giant and tried to distract him. "You know on that part... where they're on the snow planet... with the walking thingies?"

The plan slowly formed in Andi's mind and she understood what he was talking about as she watched him begin to swing around the giant guy's legs. Andi worked to try and help him, holding her hands out to the ground. Slowly, thick vines began to grow, roots along with them, and they began to wrap around the guy's legs as well.

"The kid might be on to something," Tony called out to Rhodey and Andi was vaguely aware of them both flying up together.

As they did this, Andi couldn't help but notice Vision flying through to the other side. She followed his gaze only to see that he was watching Steve and Bucky make their escape.

 _Crap_.

Andi's concentration was lost. The vines already wrapped around his leg held, but the vines that grew were targeting someone else now. Vision fired a laser at the nearby control tower, probably hoping it would fall and block the path to the hangar. Andi acted on impulse to try and prevent that from happening.

The vines shot up, wrapping around Vision's legs and catching him off guard. He hadn't been expecting it, so he lost focus. The laser stopped, and he instead looked down at Andi with surprise. It was enough of a distraction to let Bucky and Steve get through but one glance told her she might be too late. Vision had already done some damage, and the structure was crumbling.

Had Wanda not been there to try and keep the wreckage in the air, Steve and Bucky may not have made it through. It turned out though, that Andi had something else to worry about, because while she was focused on helping Steve and Bucky, she hadn't noticed that Peter's plan had been executed.

Tony and Rhodey landed a blow to the giant guy, and since his legs were bound by a mix of webbing and vines, he was thrown off balance — and he was about to fall right on top of Andi.

She began to run at full speed, darkness surrounding her from the shadow that quickly began to cover her and the path ahead. She didn't have enough time to get away, and she knew this without turning back to see. Just moments before his body collapsed and _would_ have crushed her, Andi felt herself lifted up off her feet, a strong arm around her, keeping her in place.

She looked up and saw that it was Peter. He'd managed to swing around and get them both out of the way, but as he did this, the giant man's arm flailed about and swatted them. Andi and Peter were both sent flying, and she was no longer in his arms.

Andi landed on the tarmac some distance away and Peter was sprawled across on the ground not far away from her. Everything hurt, but she forced herself into a sitting position anyway, just in time for Tony to fly over to them.

His helmet retracted and he looked between both teens with concern. "You guys alright?"

Peter, not knowing it was Tony who stood near him, thrashed about till Tony calmed him down. "Hey, hey, same side."

"Oh," Peter removed his mask and looked up at Tony, then glanced to the side to see Andi. "Man that was scary."

"Yeah," Tony nodded. "You're done. Okay?"

"What?" Peter sat up. "No, I'm good. I'm fine."

"You did a good job," Tony assured him. "Now stay down or I'll call Aunt May."

Tony was walking away from Peter now, and toward Andi. She could hear Peter vaguely still protesting, till he gave up and collapsed back on the ground with a tired "Okay, I'm done".

"What the _hell_ were you thinking?" He asked, staring Andi down. His anger was expected, but she'd never actually experienced it directed at her. "What was your plan there? Do you have any idea how—"

At that point, Andi tuned Tony off because she noticed something else that caught her attention. From the hangar, despite the rubble, a quinjet rose to the sky and began to surge forward. Steve and Bucky had made it on board.

Tony noticed her gaze shifting and he turned to follow it. The jet soared through the sky, but Rhodey was on its tail. Right behind him was Sam, probably trying to get Rhodey out of the picture.

After that, everything happened quickly.

Andi wasn't sure if Rhodey asked for help, or if Vision decided to help on his own, but she saw a laser aimed right at him and Sam coming from nearby.

Sam had seen it coming and he got out of the way, but in doing so, he left the path wide open to Rhodey. The laser hit the center of his suit, and suddenly, Rhodey was dead in the air. He wasn't flying anymore. The shot made the suit lose power.

"Rhodey!" Tony's helmet went back on in a second and he flew off, speeding toward Rhodey to try and prevent him from plummeting to the ground. Sam began to dive too, once he saw what was happening.

Andi watched with bated breath, hoping that one of them would reach him in time, but unfortunately, neither of them did.

She saw Rhodey land, and she heard the loud sound that came as a result of his suit digging deep into the deep, because of the powerful impact. In hindsight, Andi should have realised that she didn't _feel_ death. Because of her powers, her uncanny ability to speak to spirits and sense death, she would have felt it. She would have felt the connection being severed, as if someone took the string that held Rhodey's life force and cut it in two.

Andi didn't feel that, but she did sense how close he was to being gone in that moment so she couldn't think about anything else other than how badly this had all turned out.

And like she suspected earlier, she doubted there would be any way to go back to the way things had been before, given everything that just happened.

Staring ahead at Tony who crouched down beside an unmoving Rhodey, Andi felt a lot of things.

One emotion overpowered them all though. Guilt.


	16. this isn't over

Everything was a mess.

Andi had to watch as armed officers subdued Sam, Wanda, Clint and... well, she didn't really know the name of the guy who had the ability to grow in size and shrink as well. She couldn't help but think that they'd come for her too, but they didn't. Not yet.

Wanda and the others outright opposed Tony. Andi had only changed her mind at the last second, which they may not even know about. Unless Vision or T'Challa were to inform Ross about it. At this point, it was impossible for her to predict whether they would or not. A lot of people were unhappy, and about various things.

They hadn't met Ross yet, probably because he was busy dealing with the others who'd been taken away somewhere. Andi stood in the hospital wing of the Avenger's base with Peter, looking through a glass window as Rhodey lay down for an MRI. She didn't get most of what the doctors said, but she knew it couldn't be good.

Steve and Bucky had gotten away, but was that enough? Did they know what they were up against? Andi felt restless. She wanted to help but she was also worried about herself, and what her last minute decisions meant for her.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Andi left the room to get some fresh air outside. It wasn't long before she realised that someone had followed her.

"You doing okay?" She turned to see Peter jogging over, coming to a stop beside her. He had changed out of his suit, like almost everyone else had.

Andi pursed her lips, unsure how to answer. "I don't think anything's okay at this point," she replied with a small shrug, staring at the grassy field ahead. The jet that Tony had used to speed Rhodey over was parked a couple of feet away but other than that, there wasn't a soul or thing in sight. Quite literally. Andi couldn't hear any voices of the dead. She hadn't in a while, because things had been good and she'd been doing well trying to keep them out of her head. With the way things were now though, she knew it wouldn't be long before she started to hear them again.

"Tony'll vouch for you," Peter tried to remain optimistic. "They're not going to do anything to you, you're too young. I won't let them."

Andi looked over at him with a half-hearted smile. "I was forced to do much worse when HYDRA had me. If they knew about all of that, I would never have been allowed to lead the life I managed to lead for the past year," she explained to him. "Tony covered it all up, but I don't think he can anymore."

Besides, she wasn't even sure how angry he was. He hadn't said a word to her since Rhodey's incident. She knew he was also mad at Nat, who, like Andi, made a last minute decision that was questionable. Nothing had happened to her either. Yet.

Andi shoved her hands into her pockets and her fingers brushed against something cold. She pulled it out only to see that it was the metal figurine she'd been working on. It was a spider — she'd initially been making it for Nat, but after her run in with Spider-Man the other day at the deli, she'd started to shift its form and paint it so that it reflected the masked hero. It wasn't done yet, but all it needed was a little reshaping.

"What's that?" Andi looked up to see Peter eyeing the object in her hand.

Andi felt butterflies in her stomach. "Nothing," she shook her head and turned it over in her hands. "Just something I've been working on." She shoved the metal spider back into her pocket, deciding that now wasn't the time to give it to him.

Andi looked up, about to suggest that they head back in and find something to eat, but she stopped herself when she noticed someone walking toward the jet. _Tony_. Where was he going?

It wasn't like him to leave when something serious had clearly happened to someone close. If he was taking off, it had to be something important.

Andi made an impulsive decision to follow him. She started moving forward, but Peter's voice stopped her. "Andi, wait. Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Andi turned briefly to face him. "I need to know what's happening." She played a part in it all, even if Tony didn't like it.

"Then I'll come with you."

Andi shook her head. "I can sneak onto the chopper. If you come too, he'll notice us. Just... try and cover for me as long as you can?" Andi didn't want to put him in that position either, but it was probably better than whatever she was about to walk into.

Peter didn't seem to like the idea very much, but he nodded nonetheless. "Okay," he agreed. "But... be careful."

"I will," Andi nodded. She looked toward the jet, and Tony was almost at the entrance. In a split second decision, Andi spun around to face Peter once more. She had a tendency to do things on a whim, and for this particular instance, she wasn't sure if it was the right move or the wrong one. Regardless, she went with her gut and leaned forward to press a quick kiss to Peter's cheek. 

Andi's cheeks were flushed with colour before she even made her decision, and instead of sticking around to see his expression or hear what he had to say, Andi turned back around and jogged to the jet. Just as Tony walked in, she slipped inside behind him. She just had to hope that FRIDAY wouldn't notice anything unusual about her being there, and fortunately, Andi hid behind the seats easily since Tony was way up front.

She soon felt the jet lifting up into the air, and for the moment, things were silent.

Andi knew, though, that this whole thing was far from over. 


	17. so now we have underwater prisons

Andi had no idea where Tony was headed but she remained in the back of the jet, doing her best to remain unnoticed. The sound of rain surprised her, and after a while it was darker inside the jet, which indicated to her that heavy rain clouds hung low outside.

She could hear FIRDAY's voice up front, responding to a few questions that Tony was asking. She didn't understand his line of questioning till later though.

"The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as Barnes was captured," FIRDAY's voice filled the entire jet, and at the mention of Bucky, Andi became more alert. "The UN dispatched Theo Broussard from Geneva within the hour," FRIDAY continued. "He was met by this man."

Slowly, from where she hid, Andi tried to get a peek at whatever FRIDAY was showing Tony but he was looking at it on his phone, making it impossible to see over his frame. If she wanted to get a look she'd have to get closer and risk being found out in the process.

"Did you run facial recognition?" Tony asked, and a bit of banter ensued, while Andi tried to creep out of her hiding place. She had taken cover behind one of the seats, and some kind of table stood between her and the pilot's seat, which was where Tony sat.

"The fake doctor is actually Colonel Helmut Zemo," FRIDAY was saying. Andi continued to creep around the table. "Sokovian Intelligence." Moments later, the jet was filled with a bluish light. She looked up to see that Tony had projected whatever was on his phone screen as a hologram, and now Andi could see it all.

"Zemo ran Echo Scorpion," FRDIAY's voice narrated, "a Sokovian covert kill squad."

Andi vaguely recognised the face of the man pictured in the hologram. She never got up close with him, only saw him on TV as he interrogated Bucky, but there was no doubt in her mind that this was the same man.

"What happened to the real Broussard?" Tony asked, staring at the pictures.

"He was found dead in a hotel room in Berlin."

 _Dead?_ So there was definitely something bigger at play... but what? What could cause a guy to go through so much effort just to get in a room with Bucky and let him loose?

"Police also found a wig in the hotel room," FRIDAY continued, "and facial prosthesis approximating the appearance of one James Buchanan Barnes."

So Bucky had been framed. Just like Steve said. And now Tony knew it too.

"Son of a bitch," Tony muttered, leaning back in his seat. As he did so, Andi grabbed something on the side of the table to adjust her position, however doing so was apparently a mistake. She pulled at a panel and it opened up, revealing a set of guns. _Natasha's emergency stash_. What was worse was that the panel fell to the floor with a clang, and Andi's presence was no longer so covert.

Tony spun around in his seat, eyes wide. He was silent. Almost _dangerously_ silent. When Tony was speechless, Andi knew she was in for trouble.

"I can explain," she tried, slowly rising to her feet.

"I don't think you can," Tony tilted his head to the side. She could have sworn she saw his eye twitching in anger.

"Nothing about this is fair, you know that, right?" Andi spoke to Tony, wanting to voice all the concerns she had. "Steve's off with a fugitive, who it turns out has no _reason_ to be a fugitive. Wanda and the others, members of _The Avengers_ , were _arrested_ , and the truth is, I should be with them too, and it's only a matter of time before they find me and I know you think you can do something about it but—"

"Listen, I don't think you understand what's going on here," Tony interrupted her, leaning forward in his seat. The blue light of the hologram illuminated the bruises on his face that hadn't been there a few hours ago. "We're not dealing with Ultron. We're not trying to evacuate a city. This is _different_. Heck, even _I_ don't know what we're dealing with right now, but one guy managed to get under our skin and divide the whole team, so I don't have time to babysit."

"You took me with you to recruit a fifteen-year-old to help you fight in this war. I'm the same age. What makes me any different?" Andi argued, crossing her arms.

"Because at least out there on that field, I knew what we were dealing with. Right now, I've got nothing," Tony shrugged, though his expression made it clear to Andi that he was frustrated. He was worried.

More importantly, she knew part of him blamed himself for the fallout that happened.

"Okay, it's true. If you had listened to Steve, given him the benefit of the doubt, we may not be in this mess. But we are. So it only matters what you do now." Andi was done arguing. They had to deal with this soon, before it got out of hand. "You're going to help Steve, right?"

Tony put his face in his palms and dragged his fingers down while he thought about what to do. "I don't even know where they've gone," he said, pausing for a moment before he sat up a little straighter. "But I can find out."

Andi furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "How?"

"Sam knows. I just need to ask him," Tony entered something into the controls of the jet before facing Andi again. "We're about to enter the facility where they're being kept but I need you to stay in here."

Andi desperately wanted to see Wanda and the others, but she also knew that going out there for Secretary Ross to find her would only mean her own imprisonment along with them. And she couldn't help Tony much from behind bars.

She could feel the jet beginning to descend and she got up to look outside the window. They'd been flying over the ocean this entire time? One glance downward showed her that the facility was deep down there. She could see lights glowing underneath and slowly, a platform rose to allow the jet to land, before closing and presumably going back underwater. For now, they were indoors.

"We'll fix everything," Tony assured Andi, sensing her uneasiness at just being here. "Once all this is over and done with. Just stay here for now."

So Andi did as she was told. She took extra precautions by returning to her hiding place behind one of the seats, just in case someone decided to pop inside and have a look.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed but it felt like forever before Tony finally arrived. He was silent when he got in, and immediately took to the controls, getting the jet up in the sky as soon as the platform rose out of the water. Andi took that as a sign that it was safe to come out, so she did, and she settled down in the seat beside Tony's, looking at him curiously.

"What happened?" Andi eventually asked, not able to stand the near deafening silence.

"I've got the location," Tony answered, glancing over at her. He looked like he was deciding what to do. "We've got to move quick."

The fact that he said _we_ and not _I_ definitely got Andi more alert. She sat up straighter when Tony got up from his chair and moved to the table behind his seat. He opened up a panel and rummaged around before he produced what looked like a metal band.

Walking over to Andi, he handed it to her. She took it from him curiously and looked it over before looking back up at Tony expectantly. "You don't have your suit so that'll offer some form of protection," he explained. "Just make a fist with your hand and you'll have a shield."

Andi was tempted to try it but refrained from doing so. Instead, she slipped the band onto her wrist before. "Will we reach in time?"

"Not in this jet," Tony shook his head, standing by the table again. He pushed a button, and lots of things began to happen simultaneously. His Iron Man armour began to grow around his hand, going till he was in his full suit. The table was split in half and moved aside, revealing an opening below. Andi could see the ocean waves crashing violently against each other. It was a terrifying sight, but she knew the plan here was not to swim.

She looked up to Tony, who held his hand out for her to take. Before she did though, Andi dug around in her pockets to pull out the small metal spider she'd made for Peter. Just in case anything went wrong, she opted to leave it in the jet, and she set it down on one half of the table.

If Tony took notice or was curious, he didn't say anything. He just remained where he was till she took his hand. Within seconds, they were soaring through the air, heading off to a place that was still unknown to Andi.

Heading off to yet another war, but hopefully one that would fix everything. 


	18. an empire crumbles from within

Andi wasn't sure how long they'd been flying. Eventually, she felt the air start to become colder as they rose higher, and through the clouds, she could make out the sight of what looked like rocky, snow capped mountains. Tony slowed down as he reached the peak of one of them, and as they neared, Andi realised that it was an entrance of sorts, and it was currently open. Off to the side, she also spotted an empty quinjet so she knew that Steve and Bucky had arrived already.

Tony set her down and came to stand beside her, his helmet remaining shut for the time being. Andi immediately wished she'd dressed warmer, but how was she to know that they'd be heading toward a mountain range?

"Where are we?" She asked him curiously, still not completely informed about everything.

"Sibera Hydra Base," Tony answered, looking ahead and walking toward the entrance. Andi followed closely behind. The inside of the base was dusty and pale, and it looked like nobody had been there in several years. "How much about this do you actually know?"

Still following behind, Andi spoke up, though she kept her guard up the entire time, unsure what to expect inside the abandoned facility. "I know about Hydra if that's what you're asking. In case you forgot, I lived in a Hydra lab for the majority of my life."

Tony's movements slowed for a moment but other than that, he showed no reaction. She couldn't see his face so it was hard to tell what he was thinking. "So you've heard about the Super Soldiers?"

Andi nodded. "Vaguely. I know there were attempts to create them a while ago. And I know that Bucky was one." Though the last part was because Steve told her.

"Well, we have reason to believe that Zemo's come here to try and reactivate the others that were frozen a long time ago," Tony explained, looking around and approaching a metal door. He stopped in front of it and inspected the keypad.

"Why?" Andi asked, coming to stand behind him but peering around to look at the keypad.

"To form his own boyband maybe," Tony shrugged. "I don't know. What I _do_ know is that it's not going to be good for us if he's already succeeded." And they hadn't found Steve and Bucky yet.

Deciding to ignore the keypad, Tony just placed his hands on the doors and, with the help of the suit, he was able to pry it open. He stayed frozen in that position for a moment though, and Andi moved to the side a bit to see what he was staring at.

A few feet away, descending a small set of stairs, Andi immediately recognised the red and blue hues of Captain America's shield. A small smile lit up her face upon seeing him, and Bucky was right behind him holding up a gun that was aimed at Tony.

"You seem a little defensive," Tony pointed out, stepping away from the door and walking toward the duo. Andi followed behind, not sure if she should say anything so she left it to the adults for the time being.

Steve nodded and walked forward, shield still held up. "It's been a long day."

Tony's helmet shrunk into the suit, revealing his face, and he looked at Bucky. "At ease, soldier. I'm not currently after you."

Bucky made no effort to move yet. Steve continued speaking, "Then why are you here?"

Tony shrugged a little. "Could be your story's not so crazy. Maybe."

Andi rolled her eyes. "He means to say you were right." He really just couldn't admit it when he was wrong, could he? "He's just embarrassed to say so."

Tony whipped his head around to look at her. "Don't make me regret bringing you." And despite that very scary threat, Andi looked past him at Steve who had a small smirk playing along his lips.

Turning back to Steve, Tony spoke again. "Ross has no idea I'm here, so I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise I gotta arrest myself."

"That must be a lot of paperwork," Steve muttered, and Tony scoffed in response. Andi was no expert on flirting but it sure as hell seemed a lot like that as she let her gaze flit between the both of them.

Steve finally lowered his shield and looked Tony up and down. "It's good to see you, Tony."

Tony studied him in return for a moment. "You too, cap." There seemed to be a bit of eye contact for a moment, and it was silent.

Andi wasn't sure whether to speak up or not. It seemed like a moment that shouldn't be interrupted, but at the same time, they were running a bit of a tight schedule. So, she cleared her throat and looked at Steve. "What am I, a piece of meat?"

Steve pried his gaze away from Tony and looked to her with a small smile. "It's good to see you too, Andi."

Tony eventually pried his gaze away from Steve too, and looked at Bucky, who still had his gun raised. "Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me," he waved between him and Steve. "There's a truce here, you can drop the gun." Bucky did just that, but only when Steve turned to face him and signalled that it was okay.

Tony and Steve led the way, venturing down a hallway to the right. Andi followed behind, falling into step beside Bucky who had his gun raised a little in a seemingly defensive stance. He glanced over at her in between. "Steve told me," he murmured softly.

Andi looked at him in mild alarm. Not because he was speaking to her, but because she wasn't sure what Steve told him. "About what?"

"About where they found you," he lowered his gun a little, as if trying to look a little less intimidating while he spoke to her. "And what Hydra did to you." Andi suspected he was only bringing this up because he could relate to it. Either way, it strangely felt better to discuss it with someone who could feel the same since they went through the same thing. Wanda had been experimented on by Hydra too, but she had volunteered for it. Andi and Bucky had been taken against their will and put through torture, all to create a weapon.

Nodding a little, Andi looked away from him and at Steve and Tony up ahead. "Yeah, it sucked," she studied the pair ahead who were deep in conversation, "but I've found a new family." Andi looked back at Bucky. "Just like you've still got Steve."

He had a ghost of a smile on his face, almost like he was trying to hold it back, but he nodded. Things were still probably going to be complicated after this, but if they caught Zemo, then Ross would have no choice but to believe that they were trying to do the right thing, and Bucky hadn't done anything wrong.

He looked like he wanted to say something else but before he got the chance, Tony and Steve turned off to the right, entering a new corridor, and once Andi and Bucky followed up behind them, she saw that it opened into a huge room. It was dimly lit, but Tony offered more light through his suit. The mask of his suit came back on and he spoke. "I've got heat signatures."

Andi froze. That meant someone was here. Or maybe more than just one person, if the Super Soliders had been activated.

Tony's words left her confused though. "Uh, one."

So that was Zemo. But if he'd been here before them then how come the Soldiers hadn't been activated?

The four of them walked further into the large room. There was something at the centre that Andi couldn't quite make out. She could see a bit of steam coming out of some pipes here and there, and it was as chilly in there as it was out in the snow.

The moment they neared the centre of the room, lights came on. Andi looked all around but she realised they weren't very bright lights. Mainly, she focused on the hues of yellow that seemed to radiate from little cubicles ahead of her. There seemed to be six of them, spaced out evenly. Upon closer look, Andi realised that there were _people_ inside. The Super Soldiers.

There was a little static, and then a voice filtered into the room, coming from some kind of speaker. "If it's any consolation, they died in their sleep."

Andi knew immediately that it was Zemo talking, but she couldn't stop to look at the source because she was busy staring at the bodies. The Super Soldiers were there, still frozen in the cubicles, but each of them had sustained a gunshot to the forehead. They were dead, just like Zemo implied.

She was confused — if he hadn't wanted to reactivate them, then why come all the way here, just to kill them?

"Did you really think I wanted more of you?" He spoke up again while they looked around. Andi tried to see where he could be but she saw nothing. Zemo's voice just continued overhead. "I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here."

Another light came on, and all four of them turned toward it. Further off in one corner of the room, inside what seemed to be some large kind of container, Andi saw Zemo. Well, part of him. Through that small window on the container, Andi could see only his face, but he didn't look trapped or worried. He was right where he wanted to be, and apparently, he had _them_ right where he wanted _them_ to be.

Tony immediately shot an arm out defensively, ready to fire whatever he needed to in order to subdue Zemo. Steve's shield flew forward before she even realised that he'd thrown it. It just bounced off the surface of the container and returned to Steve's hand without making a single dent. Zemo barely flinched. "Please, Captain," Zemo smirked. "The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."

"I'm betting I could beat that." Tony walked around the centre console to get closer to the chamber, and Bucky did the same from the other side.

"Oh I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark," Zemo nodded. "But then you'd never know why you came."

Steve walked around the console as well and Andi followed behind him. "You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve walked right up to the chamber to get closer to Zemo and they now stood face to face, the glass of the window separating them.

"I've thought of nothing else for over a year," Zemo explained with a grim expression. "I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realised... there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes." Zemo chuckled. "How nice to find a flaw."

Steve took into account the things he said and came to a conclusion. "You're Sokovian. Is that what this is about?"

Andi thought back to the mess that took place because of Ultron. As much as they'd tried to save the people of Sokovia, she knew there were still several casualties. One of them had led to Tony believing they needed the Accords in the first place. She vaguely wondered who Zemo had lost in the aftermath.

"No. Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell," he told Steve. "I am here because I made a promise."

Steve was silent for a moment. "You lost someone."

"I lost _everyone_." Zemo clicked his tongue and breathed in deep. "And so will you." His eyes held a deep seated anger that made Andi fear for what could come next. She had no idea what to expect, and it was worrying.

Zemo looked down for a moment, like he was fiddling with something, and when he looked back up, Andi heard static again. This time though, it came from the centre of the room.

She turned to it, along with the others, and noticed that a screen had come on. The picture was grainy, but it was clear to see that a date was written. The month was in Russian, but Andi could clearly tell that it was the 16th, in 1991.

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again." Zemo spoke again, as Andi neared the screen to get a better look. "But one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever."

Tony and Bucky had neared the screen as well now though Bucky seemed to be avoiding looking at it. Almost like he knew what he'd see.

Tony's gaze was fixed onto it though, and Andi read a look of recognition. He spoke, almost confirming her unspoken thoughts. "I know that road." He looked to Zemo. "What is this?"

Zemo didn't respond. He just stared back, as if he was waiting for the climax in all of this.

Tony looked back at the screen, and Andi did too. The seemingly silent and empty road was suddenly no longer undisturbed. A car suddenly crashed into a tree in the corner and Andi caught sight of a bike that sped past. Seconds later, the bike returned and came to a stop near the car.

From inside the car, someone was crawling out, looking to the black-clad figure from the bike. The audio of the video was a little distorted, but Andi could still understand it.

_"Help my wife," the man said, attempting to crawl forward. "Please, help."_

_The man from the bike walked toward him and took hold of his hair, pulling his head back before bending to look down at him. A moment of silence passed, and the helpless man spoke again, but not to ask for help this time. "Sergeant Barnes?"_

Andi's gaze shot toward Bucky upon hearing the familiar name. He still wasn't looking at the screen, and she only half understood why. That was Bucky in the video but... who were the other two?

Andi shifted her attention back to the screen.

_A woman's voice could suddenly be heard from inside the car. "Howard!"_

Howard. As in... Howard Stark? Andi slowly turned to look at Tony, and the expression on his face answered her question. He was staring at Bucky, and suddenly Andi understood what Zemo meant about making an empire crumble from within.

On the screen, Bucky landed a few punches to Howard's face and Andi flinched as she watched it. She knew he wasn't in his own mind, he was being controlled. It was all years of being put under the spell of being a Super Soldier, but she knew that in Tony's eyes, that wouldn't matter.

Howard's body fell to the ground, almost limp, and Bucky lifted him up and dragged him back to the driver's seat to set him inside. Once he'd done that, Bucky walked around to the other side of the car, where Tony's mother was, and Andi watched as he placed a hand around her neck.

That was all she could look at. She pried her gaze away, but the image was in her mind already, and combined with the chokes and the gasping she could hear, Andi knew what was happening. She looked back up in time to see Bucky walking away from the car and toward the security camera that recorded all of it. He made eye contact for a moment, before pulling a gun, aiming it, and firing. The screen went blank.

Tony stood still for a moment, and he was dangerously silent. He was still staring at the screen, but his jaw was tense, and Andi could only imagine what was going on in his head at the moment. Without warning, he turned onto Bucky, but before he could do anything, Steve's hand shot out and clasped around his arm. "Tony, no."

Tony stopped, and slowly turned to face Steve. They made eye contact and it felt like time slowed down in that moment, but Andi had never seen the look of anger on Tony's face that she saw right now. "Did you know?" He asked Steve.

Steve stayed silent for a moment. "I didn't know it was him."

Tony raised his voice. "Don't bullshit me Rogers," he spat. "Did you know it was him?"

Andi felt a lump in her throat that refused to go down no matter how much she swallowed. In part, she could predict what would happen next, but she also had no idea how it would all end. This wasn't supposed to happen. She thought they were coming here to end a war, not start another one.

Steve stared back at Tony, and his eyes seemed glazed over a little. Eventually, he answered. "Yes."

There was silence for a moment, and Andi could feel the tension in the air. She wanted to reason with Tony but she knew that the best thing for her to do right now would be to stay out of it.

Without warning, Tony shot an arm out that threw Steve back a few feet.

And then all hell broke loose. 


	19. decisions, decisions

As soon as Tony got Steve out of the way in a fit of anger, he leaped toward Bucky. The soldier didn't seem to do much to defend himself, almost as if he believed that he deserved what was coming, though when Tony began to come at him with increased strength, Bucky was forced to fight back. By then, Steve had gotten up as well so he could spring into action. Andi didn't know if he intended to support one of them or try to play the role of peacemaker. All she knew was that there was no way Tony was about to back down any time soon.

Unsure of what to do, Andi looked back at the container where Zemo had been standing. She figured she'd find him happily watching what he'd aimed to achieve, but instead she found the container empty. There was nothing Andi could do to stop this fight at the moment but at least she could try and stop the person responsible for all of it.

Glancing once more to the blur of bodies moving around up ahead, tackling and tossing each other about, Andi pried her gaze away and headed back out the way she came in, hoping to find Zemo somewhere.

As she continued on, Andi heard several things crashing and falling in the background. Part of her wanted to go back but what would she do even if she _did_ go back? Tony wouldn't listen to her, and if anything, she might just make matters worse, so as much as she hated the idea that someone might really end up hurt, she forced herself to trudge forward to tackle a lead she might have more success with.

Andi hadn't been able to follow Zemo directly but she soon exited the facility by retracing her steps and coming out the way Tony had initially led the way inside. It was bright outside, and the whiteness of the snow nearly blinded her as she stepped out into it. Ignoring the cold, Andi was able to recognise Zemo sitting on the ground a few feet away near a large rock. He held a phone to his ear, and it seemed like he was listening to something intently, though Andi couldn't hear what it was.

As she attempted to make a step toward him, she noticed another figure emerging from the side. He was dressed in all black, and Andi recognised that suit. She'd seen it back at the airport. The king of Wakanda had followed them there to get his revenge, but he seemed to realise that Bucky hadn't been the one responsible for his father's death after all.

Andi hung back, once again unsure what to do. She would intervene if T'Challa had plans of killing Zemo off because then he wouldn't get the punishment he deserved, and if he was alive then she figured Bucky had a better chance of being acquitted for all the things he was being accused of.

For the time being though, T'Challa just slowly approached Zemo from behind. He took off his helmet and set it down in the snow while Zemo dropped his hand from his ear. If either of them knew Andi was present, they didn't show it.

"I almost killed the wrong man," T'Challa said to Zemo, walking slowly till he came to stand beside him. Zemo didn't at all seem surprised by the young king's presence.

"Hardly an innocent one," Zemo replied, looking up at T'Challa for all but a second before he stared back down at the phone in his hand.

"This is all you wanted?" T'Challa questioned. "To see them rip each other apart?"

Zemo didn't speak for a moment, almost as if he was gathering his thoughts. "My father lived outside the city." It took Andi a moment to realise he was talking about Sokovia. "I thought we would be safe there. My son was excited. He could see Iron Man from the car window." Andi couldn't see Zemo's face, but she could almost _feel_ the small smile that lit up his expression as he spoke about his son.

"I told my wife, _'Don't worry. They're fighting in the city. We're miles from harm,'_ " Zemo continued talking. "When the dust cleared, and the screaming stopped...it took me two days to find their bodies." He paused, and Andi practically felt his pain. But that didn't justify any of the things he'd done. "My father... he was still holding my wife and son in his arms. And the Avengers? They went home."

Andi thought back to that time. She honestly believed that most of the people had been rescued, but worse than knowing that people had died was realising that she hadn't stopped to think about it. In fact, she didn't stop to think about anything like that till Lagos, when she'd played a part in killing several people in a building because she'd lost control.

"I knew I couldn't kill them," Zemo continued. "More powerful men than me have tried. But if I could get them to kill each other..." Zemo shrugged as if that answered everything and then looked up at T'Challa. "I'm sorry about your father. He seemed a good man, with a dutiful son."

Andi was almost certain that the mention of his father would cause T'Challa to lash out and do what he'd come here to do. Preparing for it, Andi lifted her hands a little. The ground was too cold for her to successfully grow plants, at least fast enough to be able to have some kind of effect. Maybe Andi could instead focus on the metal claws that seemed to extend from T'Challa's fingers. It turned out that she didn't need to worry too much though, because after a moment, T'Challa finally spoke.

"Vengeance has consumed you," he told Zemo, looking toward the bunker briefly and noticing Andi standing there and watching. His expression barely shifted though. "It's consuming them," T'Challa continued, looking down at his hands. Andi noticed the claws retracting, no longer out to do any harm. "I am done letting it consume me. Justice will come soon enough."

Zemo nodded, and his body shook a little as a humourless chuckle escaped him. "Tell that to the dead."

In that moment, Andi was able to predict what happened. Her powers regarding death were still somewhat a mystery to her but in that moment, Zemo's life force seemed to be waning. She couldn't physically _see_ this, but she felt it. He intended to end his life, and it was about to happen right now. Andi didn't doubt that he had a gun on him, and she realised it made sense. He wanted to join the rest of his family after avenging their deaths. Andi wasn't going to let that happen though.

She acted quickly. Since she was already on alert to keep T'Challa from doing anything reckless, it wasn't too difficult for Andi to reach out with her hands. She was _not_ going to let another casualty arise when she could do something to prevent it.

A gunshot sounded, but the snow remained white and untainted by blood. Andi had managed to stifle the blow by changing the direction of the bullet. It whizzed up into the air as T'Challa reached out to subdue Zemo. The gun clattered to the side and Andi moved over to it, kicking it out of the way.

As T'Challa held Zemo down, he looked at him. "The living are not done with you yet."

* * *

Andi continued to wonder what was happening inside the base while T'Challa got Zemo into the quinjet he'd come in. Once he was cuffed and unable to escape, T'Challa stepped off of the jet and looked at Andi. She could see him from her peripheral vision, but she couldn't stop staring at the entrance to the base, hoping that the three people inside would emerge and reveal that they'd sorted through things and that everything was going to be fine.

But she knew that wasn't about to happen.

"It isn't safe for you here," T'Challa spoke up, causing Andi to pry her gaze away from the base entrance so she could look at him.

"I'm tired of people deciding what is and isn't safe for me," she murmured softly, looking down at her feet buried in the snow. She felt a little warmer though, since T'Challa had tossed her a jacket from inside the quinjet while he was ushering Zemo into it. It was vest meant for battle since there were a lot of pockets to store weapons, but it was padded so Andi was grateful for the additional warmth.

T'Challa smiled a little. "I only mean that if you remain, there will be consequences once you return home." That got her to look at him again. "You weren't the only one with a change of heart. Miss Romanoff will be paying the price for it too, but I suspect her intuition has led her to avoid being captured."

Of course. Andi almost forgot that Nat had been the one to ultimately help Steve and Bucky escape. She hadn't seen much of her once everything was said and done, aside from a quick glance when they were in the hospital with Rhodey. She knew what was coming, which meant the same thing was coming for Andi too. Assuming that Tony walked away from this thing with everything intact... well she doubted he'd be able to do much to help her, and she knew there was no way he was interested in helping Bucky clear his name now. Not after what he learned.

"I don't have anywhere else to go," Andi muttered, letting her gaze flicker to the base for a second before focusing on T'Challa again. And even if she did, it wasn't like she could leave Tony. She didn't even know what was going to happen.

"I know you want to help, but you won't be able to do much behind bars," T'Challa explained. The mention of being put behind bars reminded her of the underwater prison. Wanda was there. So was Clint, and Sam, and that Ant dude. "I know somewhere you can go though."

Andi studied him for a moment, wondering what he was talking about. "What kind of place?"

"A safe place." T'Challa didn't seem interested in elaborating. Andi wasn't sure how she could just trust him. She barely knew him. But he changed his mind at the last minute and got over his need for revenge. Maybe he really _did_ want to help. "It's your choice. But I can guarantee that you will be safe, and you might even be able to free your other friends."

It was a tempting offer. Stay, or run? In the moment, Andi wondered about everything that could happen. What would happen to Steve and Bucky? Would they take up T'Challa's offer too? How was he so sure that they'd be safe and not hunted down? And what would happen to Tony? And Rhodey?

What about Peter?

"So," T'Challa's voice derailed her train of thought and she looked at him again as he folded his arms. "What do you want to do?"


	20. it's over, but it isn't good

_"He's my friend."_

_Tony stared at a battered looking Steve as he stood over his kneeling body. Bucky lay off to the side, still incapacitated after his metal arm had been blasted off, but as far as Tony was concerned, the Winter Soldier didn't really exist in this moment._

_"So was I," Tony replied, his heart having sunk too low to be picked up any time soon._

And now Tony was left with nothing. His helmet lay across the floor, nearly shattered from when Steve pulled it off. The suit was almost completely powered down, every part of Tony's body felt like it was on fire, and a few feet away lay Captain America's shield. The one that Tony told Steve he didn't deserve. The one Steve seemed happy to leave behind if it meant getting his best friend to safety.

Tony kept repeating the last moments in his head, knowing that there may be no coming back from this. Things were a mess before but now.... Now they were worse. And he didn't know if they could be fixed.

Hell, part of him wasn't even sure if he _wanted_ to fix it. In the moment he sure as hell hadn't wanted to. All he felt was rage. Betrayal.

Sadness.

Picking himself up off the ground, Tony knew it was time to get back to reality. Despite all that happened here, he needed to head back. He had half a mind to leave the shield there since he had no hope that it'd be ever wielded by the same person again, but in a split second decision, Tony bent down to pick it up.

Tony staggered through the hallways of the base till he reached the outside. The white light was almost blinding, or maybe it just felt like that because he was likely severely concussed.

There was a quinjet off to the side, which surprised him. He knew Steve and Bucky had come in one, but wouldn't they have left? Before he had much of a chance to think about it, he recognised a familiar face emerging from inside.

"They are gone," T'Challa announced to Tony as he neared the jet.

"And you let them go," Tony stated, pointing it out as merely an observation rather than a question. T'Challa had been on a warpath to kill Bucky. He wondered what changed his mind since Tony was the one who discovered that Zemo had been framing Bucky the entire time.

"I did," T'Challa nodded. "Because the fight isn't with them. It's with him," he nodded into the jet and Tony followed his gaze to see a subdued Zemo. So that was what happened. T'Challa got the truth.

Well Tony got the truth too, and he hadn't been nearly as forgiving. He couldn't bring himself to be that way. Not when it concerned arguably one of the worst moments in his life.

Tony looked down at the shield in his hand. It was still in perfect condition, aside from some large scratches down one side and quite a bit of discolouring. At the moment, Tony couldn't stand to look at it though, so he tossed it into the jet before climbing in himself.

"Well then let's take him back so he can get what he deserves." At least it was one victory. And despite this all being over now, Tony wasn't feeling any better. This wasn't the ending he had in mind.

As he entered the jet, he realised someone was missing, and he spun around to face T'Challa. "Where's Andi?" Realising he probably didn't recognise the name, Tony quickly clarified. "The girl, where is she?" Tony may have fought tooth and nail to try and incapacitate Bucky, and Steve as well for getting in the way, but he knew neither of them would hurt Andi... so where was she?

T'Challa turned and stepped into the jet as well, pressing a button to close the doors behind him. "I'm afraid she left too."

Tony studied him for a moment, wondering if he heard him correctly. A lot of things ran through his mind — most of which drew on some of his insecurities at the moment. Had she not felt safe after she witnessed? Was she afraid about what could happen next? Thinking about all of it was only going to put him down again, and that was the last thing he needed right now.

Instead of saying anything to acknowledge what T'Challa said to him, Tony just turned around silently and took his place at the controls to get the jet in the air for them to get back home.

And even though Tony should have at least felt a little better to be going back home, he knew there was nobody to go back to, and he couldn't help but feel like he'd lost every good thing in his life right now.

* * *

"Meals at eight and five. Toilet privileges twice a day." Everett Ross set his coffee mug down on the metal table beside him before approaching the large glass structure at the centre of the room. A structure that was meant to be impenetrable, and yet an activated Bucky Barnes had been able to break through.

But Helmut Zemo was no super soldier, and he had nothing that could help him get out of there. For now, he was trapped in there, cuffed at the wrists and ankles to keep him from moving too much.

"You raise your voice, _zap_ ," Ross spoke up, folding his arms over his chest as he looked at Zemo, who refused to meet his gaze. "You touch the glass, _zap_." Ross neared the glass with a smug smile. "You step out of line, you deal with _me_ ," he clasped his hands together like he was praying. " _Please,_ step out of line, hmm?"

Zemo's reaction remained the same. He didn't flinch. He barely blinked.

"So how does it feel?" Ross continued. "To spend all that time, all that effort... to see it fail so spectacularly?"

At that, Zemo lifted his head. He seemed to be smiling just a little. "Did it?" 


	21. where do we go from here?

The Avengers base felt empty even though it technically wasn't.

Every time Tony stepped into the building, he expected some mild banter with Steve, or checking in on Andi's progress, or any number of things that wouldn't be happening anymore because only two other people remained. Everyone else was either incarcerated in an underground prison or gone, unlikely to return till things cleared up. And Tony doubted things would ever clear up with Secretary Ross after all the damage that was done.

Rhodey was doing better, which was an improvement. Tony had done everything he could to try and help him walk again, and he currently watched as he broke in a new prototype.

"It's just the first pass," Tony explained, slowly walking alongside him to offer assistance if it was needed. "Give me some feedback, anything you can think of."

Rhodey smirked. "You may want to think about some AC down in—" Before he could finish his sentence, Rhodey stumbled, falling toward the floor. Tony tried to help but ended up kneeling on the floor beside him.

Heaving a small, almost disappointed sigh, Tony reached out. "Let's go. I'll help you up."

Rhodey shook him off. "No. Don't help me." He rolled over with some effort so he wasn't laying down on his front, and was instead sitting upright, his legs stretched out in front of him. Tony watched him and after a moment, he chuckled. "138. 138 combat missions. That's how many I've flown, Tony. Every one of them could have been my last but I flew them. Because the fight needed to be fought." He looked up at Tony. "It's the same with the Accords. I signed because it was the right thing to do."

Rhodey paused to take a breath. "And yeah, this sucks. This is, uh... this is a bad beat," he sighed. "But it hasn't changed my mind. I don't think."

Tony didn't say anything. He just studied Rhodey for a moment, nodded slightly, and reached a hand out again. This time, Rhodey took it, and he slowly got to his feet with Tony's help.

Almost as soon as he did, there was a knock on the glass door behind them and Tony turned to see an elderly FedEx man at the door with a small box in his hands. He seemed to be having some trouble reading the label, even with it held so close to his face. "Are you Tony Stank?"

Rhodey snorted. "Yes, this is Tony Stank," he nodded enthusiastically. "You're at the right place. Thank you for that." Rhodey smirked in Tony's direction. "I'm never dropping that."

As he ambled off in another direction, Tony walked over to the door to pick up the package. He took it to his office and sat down at the table to tear it open. Upon emptying the contents onto the surface of his desk, he found an old flip phone, and an envelope with his name on it. Almost immediately, Tony knew who it was from. He wasted no time opening it up and as he read the contents of the letter, he could almost hear Steve's mind repeating the words in his head:

_"Tony. I'm glad you're back at the compound. I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family._

_The Avengers are yours. Maybe more so than mine. I've been on my own since I was 18. I never really fit in anywhere, even in the army. My faith's in people, I guess. Individuals. And I'm happy to say that for the most part, they haven't let me down. Which is why I can't let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't._

_I know I hurt you Tony. I guess I thought by not telling you about your parents, I was sparing you. But I can see now that I was really sparing myself. And I'm sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand._

_Andi misses you. She's scared, and she's worried, but she's safe. She wanted you to know that she didn't want to leave. She just didn't feel like she had a choice._

_I wish we agreed on the Accords. I really do. I know you're doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do. That's all any of us should._

_So no matter what, I promise you, if you need us... if you need me... I'll be there."_


	22. here we go again

It had barely been days since the airport debacle... and everything that followed soon after at the HYDRA base. Andi was already off on another mission, though not as part of the Avengers. She had no idea if she'd ever be able to do that again, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let the people she considered her family rot in an underwater prison.

Steve had been the one to propose the idea, and Andi was certainly on board. Because of how complicated everything was though, the two of them had to go through with the plan with minimal help. Really, the only other person they could call on was Nat, since she'd been in brief contact ever since she fled from New York.

Bucky would have been a good asset, but it was a risky move bringing him along, and Steve seemed confident that they could achieve what they needed to without his help, which was more than enough to convince Andi. T'Challa had been kind enough to lend them a jet that they could take, and it wasn't hard to figure out where Wanda and the others were being kept. Andi had been there, though locating a prison under the ocean was a hard feat from above — but not when you had someone like Natasha Romanoff on your side to help get the necessary intel.

They couldn't afford to waste too much time, so the plan was put into action pretty quickly, whether they were all prepared for it or not. Andi herself had tried her best to practise a little, with what space she was given. She just didn't want to mess up like she had with her very first mission. Her second attempt at going into battle hadn't been too great either since she ended up changing sides toward the end. Andi couldn't afford to make mistakes this time around.

The ride was quick, and because the jet belonged to T'Challa, they got clearance pretty quickly, without having to explain themselves. The real challenge would begin once those doors opened and the guards saw that the king of Wakanda wasn't on board, like they were led to believe.

As the jet descended to land, Nat got up from the controls and moved to stand beside Steve, who stood facing the door. Andi was off to the side, feeling a little nervous, but also feeling hopeful.

"You alright?" Andi looked up to see Steve watching her. She nodded slowly in response to the question and rose to her feet so she could approach him. The jet finally landed, and those doors would open soon enough.

Steve offered an encouraging smile. "Just like we practised, yeah?"

That got Andi to smile a little too, and she felt the jitters wear off. The doors began to open and she looked toward them. "Yeah," she nodded. "Just like we practised. 


	23. credits




	24. mid credits scene

Steve had been standing in the corner of the room for what felt like hours. It hadn't nearly been that long, but there was a lot on his mind, and watching his best friend make the decision to become frozen again wasn't something that really sat well with him. But it was Bucky's choice, and Steve understood why he'd made that decision.

Watching as someone finished taking some blood from Bucky for tests, Steve shoved his hands into his pockets and kicked off from the wall to walk over to him. The set up in the lab was impressive — certainly not something he expected the king of Wakanda to be hiding behind a mirage of trees, but there they were.

"You sure about this?" Steve asked Bucky, slowing down as he approached the gurney that his best friend currently sat on. His left arm was more or less a stump now, since it had been singed off during the fight with Tony. Just thinking about the whole thing stung, so Steve pushed that thought to the furthest part of his mind.

"I can't trust my own mind," Bucky said with a small shrug and a sad smile. "So, until they figure out how to get this stuff out of my head, I think going back under is the best thing."

Steve didn't have a lot of options. He knew it was important for Bucky to recover from HYDRA's brainwashing so he didn't turn into a soldier ever again, just because a few words were repeated to him. Tony might have made it possible, but they couldn't go back to New York. Not yet. Not for a while.

Fortunately, T'Challa had been happy to offer his assistance, which Steve was grateful for.

Moments later, they had Bucky in a small cubicle. Glass slid over the front, covering the entire thing, and Steve watched as frost blurred out Bucky's unconscious form. He stood there a moment longer before looking away and walking to a nearby window. Steve had never been to Wakanda before, and he could understand why. They sure were hiding a lot away from the public.

He heard footsteps approaching from behind but didn't turn to look. He knew who it was. "Thank you for this," Steve said to T'Challa as he came to a stop beside him.

T'Challa was looking out the window as well. "Your friend and my father... they were both victims. If I can help one of them find peace..." He faltered, and Steve understood what he meant.

Still, he felt the need to reiterate how dangerous this was. "You know, if they find out he's here, they'll come for him." Steve pried his gaze away from the window to look at T'Challa.

The king of Wakanda continued to stare out the window at a large stony structure of a panther. He seemed to be smiling. "Let them try." 


	25. post credits scene

Peter was worried.

Everything with the Accords... it hadn't really gone the way he'd hoped it would go. He'd been excited to be called on by Tony Stark of all people, and to learn that _Andi_ was involved too? It all felt so surreal. Until things took a turn for the worse.

A week had passed since then, and Peter hadn't heard from Andi. Tony didn't know where she was, and she wasn't answering any of his calls, or replying to any of his messages. She was just... gone.

It all struck him as odd. He couldn't understand why Andi would just vanish without saying anything. Peter assumed that it was because something was wrong. He just wished he knew what it was so he could try and offer some help. The whole thing had been eating away at him since he got back to New York, and it continued to eat away at him even now, as he made his way back home after class.

The only thing that distracted him was the fact that there was an expensive looking car parked outside his apartment building. Peter suddenly felt like he was experiencing deja vu. Only this time, he knew he wasn't going to go upstairs and find Andi and Tony stark in his apartment, because Andi was gone, and Tony Stark was right in front of him, leaning against the hood of his car.

He noticed Peter approaching and stood straight, though his hands remained in his pockets. "Hey kid," he looked Peter over. "How are you doing?"

"I-I'm good," Peter nodded a little frantically before tilting his head to the side a bit in confusion. "Mr. Stark, why are you outside my apartment building?"

Tony shrugged a little and looked up at the building. "Just thought I'd check in, see how you're doing." He pulled his hands out of his pockets and he seemed to be holding something in one of them. "I know things have been a little weird but they'll get better."

Peter tugged at the straps of his backpack awkwardly and nodded. He wanted to hope that they'd get better, but right now that seemed pretty complicated.

"Anyway," Tony cleared his throat. "I meant to give this to you earlier but I was busy putting out fires, so." He stretched out his hand and Peter looked down to see... a spider? No, not a life one. It was small and flat, and made out of metal. It was even painted blue and red, like his suit. Well, _half_ painted. Some spots were still metallic grey, like it was unfinished.

Very gingerly, Peter reached out to take it."Why—"

"I think Andi was working on it for you," Tony explained, as if reading his mind. "I found it in her room. Thought you might want it."

Peter stared down at the little unfinished creation with a newfound fondness. He let his gaze linger on it perhaps a moment longer than he intended to, and quickly cleared his throat and looked at Tony when he realised. "Thank you," he offered a smile. "Thank you, Mr. Stark."

Tony only nodded and reached up to adjust his sunglasses. "Well, I've got to get going but I'll see you. Eventually. Some time." Tony left it pretty vague as he opened up the car door and slid inside. "See you, kid."

Peter barely got a chance to wave before the car sped off down the street, leaving him watching after it till it eventually disappeared from his view. He then let his gaze drift back to the little trinket in his hand, and he turned it over a few times, just admiring the handiwork.

He'd been about to shove it into his pocket and head upstairs when something caught his attention.

Down on the pavement, between his feet, he saw a tuft of grass sprouting from little cracks in the ground. Furrowing his eyebrows together in confusion, Peter began to wonder if that had been there before. He turned around to look behind him, and saw some more grass.

Peter felt his heart beginning to pound in his chest. He knew only one person who could do things with plants, and as he watched a small, white flower blossom among one of the patches of grass, he was convinced that this was her doing.

"Andi?" 


End file.
